For Ukraine help, Giuliani turned to unlikely Florida fixers

[riversedge]

Source: AP


By MICHAEL BIESECKER and DESMOND BUTLER 14 minutes ago


WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Donald Trump wanted Ukrainian authorities to investigate his Democratic rival Joe Biden, Rudy Giuliani turned to a pair of Soviet-born business partners from Florida who made more than a half-million dollars in political donations to Republicans while facing lawsuits from disgruntled investors over unpaid debts.

Documents show Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman used wire transfers from a company they controlled to make a $325,000 donation to a Trump-allied political action committee in 2018. That was on top of $100,000 in earlier donations to Trump and GOP candidates that helped the relatively unknown entrepreneurs quickly gain access to the highest levels of the Republican Party — including face-to-face meetings with the president at the White House and Mar-a-Lago.

“Thank You President Trump !!! Making America great !!!!!!,” Parnas wrote in a May 2018 Facebook post showing him and Fruman with Trump at a dinner in the president’s private residence at The White House.

The big May 2018 donation to American First Action was part of a flurry of political spending tied to Parnas and Fruman, with at least $478,000 in donations flowing to GOP campaigns and PACs in little more than two months.

It is not yet clear when the two men first met Giuliani, President Trump’s personal attorney. But earlier this year, according to Ukrainian media reports, Parnas and Fruman were spotted in Kyiv, where they were frequent visitors to then-Prosecutor General Yuri Lutsenko, who sought to portray himself as an uncompromising fighter against corruption.

Multiple Ukrainian media outlets later named Parnas and Fruman as helping arrange a January meeting in New York between Lutsenko and Giuliani, as well as other meetings with key government officials.............................................



Read more: https://www.apnews.com/79ea79b925d141b8b558706c44f0d77c?utm_medium=AP&utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter

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This Facebook screen shot provided by The Campaign Legal Center, shows from left, Donald Trump, Jr., Tommy Hicks, Jr., Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, posted on May 21, 2018. (The Campaign Legal Center via AP)

[rockfordfile]

1. The GOP is the traitor party. DeSantis is one un-American pos.

[dalton99a]

2. Guiliani is no stranger to Russian laundromats:

https://www.newsweek.com/giuliani-mysterious-ties-russia-former-soviet-union-decades-1215349

Trump Lawyer Rudy Giuliani's Mysterious Ties to Russia and Former Soviet Union Go Back Decades, Experts Argue
By Cristina Maza On 11/16/18 at 10:46 AM EST

In the month of October, Giuliani traveled to Armenia at the invitation of a Kremlin-linked businessman to participate in a forum for a Russia-led economic union. That same month, the former New York mayor was also named in a criminal complaint because his former law firm allegedly helped Kazakh fugitives launder stolen money. Both Armenia and Kazakhstan were once part of the Soviet Union, and today their governments, security services and intelligence organizations maintain close ties to Moscow.

"One of Giuliani's earliest associations was with Semyon 'Sam' Kislin, who donated money to both his 1993 and 1997 campaigns [for mayor] and was appointed by Giuliani to serve on the New York City Mayor's Council of Economic Advisors," Olga Lautman, an investigative reporter who spent three years tracking ties between the Russian mafia and Trump's associates, told Newsweek.

"According to FBI and Interpol reports, Kislin, a wealthy commodities trader, was using his company to launder money from Russia to the U.S.," Lautman added.

Giuliani's former law firm also has longstanding ties to a couple from Kazakhstan who fled their country after being accused of stealing millions.

On October 8, Viktor Khrapunov, the former mayor of the Kazakh city of Almaty, and his wife, Leila Khrapunova, were found guilty of financial fraud, taking bribes and running a criminal organization. They were sentenced to 17 and 14 years in jail respectively. Law enforcement officials say the couple helped launder around $10 billion stolen from their country.

It is unlikely, however, that the Khrapunovs will go to prison anytime soon. The couple is avoiding jail time in Switzerland, where it is exceptionally difficult to get an extradition request approved. Lawyers representing the city of Almaty argue that the couple successfully laundered billions of dollars stolen from Kazakhstan in jurisdictions across the U.S. and the world. There are currently court cases pending against them in California and New York.

Court documents allege that the Khrapunovs have deep ties to Trump's former adviser Felix Sater, a Russian-born businessman with a criminal history who claims to have been a CIA informant. In 2013, Sater's development company Bayrock helped the Khrapunovs purchase three condos in Trump Tower Soho and quickly resell the properties.

Financial analysts say it's likely the purchases were used to launder money.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

3. Hey look ! Butthead's in the picture, too.

Where's Bevis (Eric) ? Hiding under the table ?

[rockfordfile]

4. This is how much the gop is owned by the Russians

All this seems similar to Rick Scott as gov with the Russians. The same for Scott Walker in Wisconsin, and how deep the Russians are in our Government. Russian fascism is a big threat to our democracy.