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Two foreign-born men who helped the president’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani in his efforts to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden have been arrested on federal campaign finance charges.
The men, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, are accused of conspiring to “circumvent the federal laws against foreign interference by engaging in a scheme to funnel foreign money to candidates for federal and State office,” according to an indictment in the Southern District of New York. Two other men, David Correia and Andrey Kukushkin, also face charges.
The pair are both U.S. citizens, according to the indictment. Parnas was born in Ukraine, while Fruman was born in Belarus, prosecutors said. They are expected to appear in court in Virginia Thursday afternoon.
The U.S. attorney in New York said at a press conference that Parnas and Fruman were arrested Wednesday evening at Dulles International Airport outside Washington as they were awaiting one-way flights out of the country.
Parnas and Fruman appeared briefly in federal court in Virginia Thursday afternoon and were granted conditional $1 million bond packages, but remain in custody.
Both Parnas and Fruman donated to Republican campaigns, and gave $325,000 to America First Action, a pro-Trump super PAC in 2018, public records show. Prosecutors allege the men set up a phony company and falsely reported the company as the source of the contributions, and made other contributions through the use of others’ names to skirt federal limits.
The indictment also alleges the pair met numerous times with a member of Congress to urge the ouster of the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, working at the direction of Ukrainian government officials.
The House committees leading the impeachment inquiry issued new subpoenas Thursday demanding documents from the men. The committees had previously requested they hand over documents voluntarily.
On Wednesday, CBS News learned the full contents of what appears to be a memo written by the whistleblower one day after President Trump spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in July.
The memo, dated July 26, is based on a conversation the whistleblower had with an unnamed White House official who listened to the call.
“The official described the call as ‘crazy,’ ‘frightening’ and ‘completely lacking in substance related to national security,'” the memo states. “The official asserted that the President used the call to persuade Ukrainian authorities to investigate his political rivals, chiefly former Vice President Biden and his son, Hunter.” (CBS News)
The men, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, are accused of conspiring to “circumvent the federal laws against foreign interference by engaging in a scheme to funnel foreign money to candidates for federal and State office,” according to an indictment in the Southern District of New York. Two other men, David Correia and Andrey Kukushkin, also face charges.
The pair are both U.S. citizens, according to the indictment. Parnas was born in Ukraine, while Fruman was born in Belarus, prosecutors said. They are expected to appear in court in Virginia Thursday afternoon.
The U.S. attorney in New York said at a press conference that Parnas and Fruman were arrested Wednesday evening at Dulles International Airport outside Washington as they were awaiting one-way flights out of the country.
Parnas and Fruman appeared briefly in federal court in Virginia Thursday afternoon and were granted conditional $1 million bond packages, but remain in custody.
Both Parnas and Fruman donated to Republican campaigns, and gave $325,000 to America First Action, a pro-Trump super PAC in 2018, public records show. Prosecutors allege the men set up a phony company and falsely reported the company as the source of the contributions, and made other contributions through the use of others’ names to skirt federal limits.
The indictment also alleges the pair met numerous times with a member of Congress to urge the ouster of the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, working at the direction of Ukrainian government officials.
The House committees leading the impeachment inquiry issued new subpoenas Thursday demanding documents from the men. The committees had previously requested they hand over documents voluntarily.
On Wednesday, CBS News learned the full contents of what appears to be a memo written by the whistleblower one day after President Trump spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in July.
The memo, dated July 26, is based on a conversation the whistleblower had with an unnamed White House official who listened to the call.
“The official described the call as ‘crazy,’ ‘frightening’ and ‘completely lacking in substance related to national security,'” the memo states. “The official asserted that the President used the call to persuade Ukrainian authorities to investigate his political rivals, chiefly former Vice President Biden and his son, Hunter.” (CBS News)
