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A4 U.S. NEWS
Friday 11 OctOber 2019
Florida men tied to Giuliani arrested on campaign charges

By MICHAEL BIESECKER, transfers from a corporate aware Wednesday night
MICHAEL BALSAMO, DES- entity to make the $325,000 that the men were being
MOND BUTLER and ERIC donation to the America arrested, a person familiar
TUCKER First Action committee in with the matter told The As-
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two 2018. But wire transfer re- sociated Press. The person
Florida businessmen tied to cords that became public spoke on condition of ano-
President Donald Trump's through a lawsuit show that nymity to discuss an ongo-
lawyer and the Ukraine in- the corporate entity report- ing investigation.
vestigation were charged ed as making the transac- The indictment says Parnas
Thursday with federal cam- tion was not the source of and Fruman "sought to ad-
paign finance violations. the money. vance their personal finan-
The charges relate to a Prosecutors also allege that cial interests and the politi-
$325,000 donation to a Parnas urged a congress- cal interests of at least one
group supporting Trump's man to seek the ouster of Ukrainian government of-
reelection. the U.S. ambassador to ficial with whom they were
Lev Parnas and Igor Fru- Ukraine, at the behest of working" and took steps to
man, associates of Rudy Ukrainian government of- conceal it from third par-
Giuliani, were arrested ficials. That happened ties, including creditors.
Wednesday trying to board about the same time that They created a limited li-
an international flight with Parnas and Fruman com- ability corporation, Global
one-way tickets at Dulles mitted to raising more than Energy Producers, and "in-
International Airport in Vir- $20,000 for the politician. tentionally caused certain
ginia, according to Geof- This Facebook screen shot provided by The Campaign Legal The congressman wasn't large contributions to be
frey Berman, the U.S. attor- Center shows, from left, Donald Trump Jr., Tommy Hicks Jr., Lev identified in court papers, reported in the name of
ney in Manhattan. No des- Parnas and Igor Fruman, posted on May 21, 2018. but the donations match GEP instead of in their own
tination was disclosed. Associated Press campaign finance reports names."
Parnas and Fruman were for former Rep. Pete Ses- Prosecutors charge that the
arrested on a four-count contender Joe Biden and whether those close to sions, a Texas Republican two men falsely claimed
indictment that includes his son Hunter. Trump and Giuliani sought who lost his re-election bid the contributions came
charges of conspiracy, The indictments mark the to use their influence to af- in November. In May 2018, from GEP, which was de-
making false statements to first criminal charges re- fect U.S. foreign policy de- Parnas posted a photo of scribed as a liquefied nat-
the Federal Election Com- lated to the Ukraine con- cisions. himself and his business ural gas business. At that
mission and falsification of troversy. While they do not Trump has dismissed the partner David Correia with point, the company had
records. The men had key suggest wrongdoing by the impeachment inquiry as Sessions in his Capitol Hill of- no income or significant as-
roles in Giuliani's efforts to president, they are likely to baseless and politically mo- fice, with the caption "Hard sets, the indictment said.
launch a Ukrainian corrup- add fuel to the House im- tivated. at work !!" Prosecutors allege that Par-
tion investigation against peachment inquiry, raising Records show that Par- John Dowd, an attorney for nas and Fruman conspired
Democratic presidential additional questions about nas and Fruman used wire Parnas and Fruman, hung to make illegal contribu-
up on an Associated Press tions to try to skirt the limit
reporter seeking comment. on federal campaign con-
Giuliani said he couldn't tributions. The men are also
comment and that he accused of making contri-
didn't represent the men in butions to candidates for
campaign finance matters. state and federal office,
The men were arrested joint fundraising commit-
around 6 p.m. Wednesday tees and independent ex-
and booked at a local jail penditure committees in
in Alexandria, Virginia. A the names of other people.
court appearance Thurs- The commitment to raise
day was delayed as law- more than $20,000 for the
yers tried to work out a bail congressman was made
package. Kevin Downing, in May and June 2018.
the lawyer who represent- The lawmaker had also re-
ed former Trump campaign ceived about $3 million in
chairman Paul Manafort on independent expenditures
charges that he hid millions from a super political ac-
of dollars that he earned in tion committee that Par-
Ukraine advising politicians nas and Fruman had been
there, was representing funding. A super PAC can
the men for their initial ap- raise and spend unlimited
pearance and declined to amounts of money in sup-
comment. port of a candidate but
Correia and Andrew Ku- isn't allowed to directly co-
kushkin, a Ukrainian-born ordinate with the official
U.S. citizen, were also campaign.
charged in the case. As a result of the dona-
Attorney General William tions, Parnas and Fruman
Barr had been briefed on had meetings with the con-
the investigation soon after gressman and Parnas lob-
he was confirmed in Feb- bied him to advocate for
ruary, was updated in re- removing the ambassador
cent weeks and was made to Ukraine, Berman said.q