Prosecutors argue Giuliani associate Lev Parnas knew donations he funneled were illegal
Source: Washington Post
NEW YORK —An associate of Rudolph W. Giuliani who hobnobbed at events attended by then-President Donald Trump illegally funneled foreign funds from a Russian investor to American political candidates to try to win their loyalty and earn favors, prosecutors argued at the start of his trial on Wednesday.
Lev Parnas and another man, Andrey Kukushkin, allegedly conspired to transfer $1 million from financier Andrey Muraviev to donate to candidates who could potentially assist in getting licenses to run legal recreational cannabis businesses. Muraviev has not been charged.
“This is what secret foreign money infiltrating American elections looks like,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Aline Flodr said in her opening statement in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Flodr argued that Parnas and Kukushkin were well aware of U.S. election laws that prohibited straw donations from foreign sources. She told jurors that text message and email evidence will prove the pair purposely sought to hide the true source of the donations and “blatantly” violated the law.
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/prosecutors-argue-giuliani-associate-lev-parnas-knew-donations-he-funneled-were-illegal/ar-AAPtScp?li=BBnb7Kz