Lev Parnas found guilty on campaign finance charges
Source: CNN
3:28 PM ET, Fri October 22, 202
New York (CNN)Rudy Giuliani's former associate Lev Parnas was convicted on six counts related to "influence buying" campaign finance schemes.
A jury of eight men and four women found Parnas guilty of scheming with co-conspirators to use a Russian backer's money to fund political contributions they hoped to trade for political favor for their budding joint cannabis venture.
The Ukrainian businessman was also convicted for using money from Igor Fruman - who previously pleaded guilty -- and a fake company to funnel hundreds of thousands in political contributions to GOP and pro-Donald Trump committees and then lying about it to the Federal Election Commission.
A $325,000 donation to the America First Action Super PAC at issue in the case was first flagged in a 2018 FEC complaint.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/22/politics/lev-parnas-verdict/index.html
Grasswire2
(13,565 posts)What's the status on that?
Hugh_Lebowski
(33,643 posts)OnDoutside
(19,952 posts)Champp
(2,114 posts)BumRushDaShow
(128,748 posts)By Shayna Jacobs
Today at 3:38 p.m. EDT
NEW YORK Lev Parnas, a Florida businessman who is an associate of Rudolph W. Giuliani, was found guilty on Friday of using funds from a foreign investor to try to influence political candidates through campaign donations. It took the federal jury in U.S. District Court in Manhattan less than a day to find that Parnas committed fraud through donations to several state and federal candidates that were bankrolled by a Russian financier. Parnas was also found guilty on counts related to a $325,000 donation in 2018 to a joint fundraising committee that supported then-president Donald Trump.
Prosecutors told the jury that the illegal fundraising efforts documented in text messages and other trial evidence gave Parnas access to elected officials and candidates. They showed photos of Parnas with Trump and Giuliani, who was the presidents personal lawyer, schmoozing at high-end political fundraisers. Prosecutors also said Parnas lied to the Federal Elections Committee about the source of the hefty 2018 donation, which he said in filings was from his start-up company Global Energy Producers. The company was in fact not profitable and not functioning as a real business, prosecutors argued.
The donation was actually sourced through a mortgage refinance loan obtained by Parnass business partner, Igor Fruman, the jury found. Fruman whose alleged role in the events was regularly discussed in testimony at the trial pleaded guilty last month to one count of soliciting foreign campaign contributions. Hes due to be sentenced early next year. Parnas is also slated to face a second trial in U.S. District Court in Manhattan for charges related to defrauding investors in what prosecutors say was another sham company Fraud Guarantee.
The venture purported to offer a service to other companies that protected them from fraud. But prosecutors allege that Parnas and another man, David Correia, were actually stealing from their investors. Correia has pleaded guilty to charges related to his role in that case. Parnass ties to Giuliani when Giuliani was Trumps personal attorney played prominently in the ex-presidents first impeachment trial. The Ukrainian native was recruited to help Giuliani seek damaging information on President Biden and his son Hunter before the 2020 election.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/lev-parnas-verdict/2021/10/22/1c6e2bbc-327c-11ec-93e2-dba2c2c11851_story.html
bluestarone
(16,900 posts)A jury COULD find TFG GUILTY, when his time comes!
RussBLib
(9,006 posts)follow the money
maxsolomon
(33,284 posts)yeah, he's a crook, but he's not the big fish - and notice Individual 1 left him hanging.
berniesandersmittens
(11,343 posts)And his lawyer was so damned strange that I couldn't look away.
FailureToCommunicate
(14,012 posts)iluvtennis
(19,844 posts)From the article:
Parnas faces up to five years in prison for each of five counts and a sixth count for falsifying records to the FEC carries a 20-year maximum prison sentence.
Judge J. Paul Oetken denied a prosecution motion to remand both defendants into custody, saying he does not believe either is a flight risk.
Sentencing for Parnas will likely be deferred given his pending second trial on one count related to the Fraud Guarantee allegations, the judge said. Kukushkin is scheduled to be sentenced in mid-February.
monkeyman1
(5,109 posts)Cetacea
(7,367 posts)monkeyman1
(5,109 posts)if ya' think about it , he already is convicted ! his so called company is in the crapper .nobody want's his name affiliated with them . investigation's up the wa'zoo , forbe's toke him off most rich list ! the whole country is taking bet's when he kick's the bucket,lives in the hole in wall where think's nobody can touch him . now , he just nothing other than republican's think he'll open his yap & take them down ! to late , game over .
bringthePaine
(1,727 posts)twodogsbarking
(9,725 posts)Nice.
Evolve Dammit
(16,723 posts)BootinUp
(47,138 posts)NullTuples
(6,017 posts)But does it matter?