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Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman are associates of Rudy Giuliani, aiding him with his quest to excavate detrimental information on President Trump's political opponents in Ukraine. This included finding a narrative to counter Mueller's Special Counsel investigation and information on former Vice President Joe Biden Jr. Both are Soviet-born Florida real estate businessmen and naturalized American citizens. And both are key players in the Trump-Ukraine scandal.

Their mission

In 2018, Parnas and Fruman were sent by Guiliani to Ukraine to extract damaging information on Trump’s U.S. political rivals. "Their mission was to find people and information that could be used to undermine the Special Counsel’s investigation, and also to damage former Vice President Joseph R. Biden." Both were also at the center of the pro-Trump forces' push to remove the U.S. ambassador to the Ukraine because her loyalty to President Trump was deemed deficient "as he pursued his agenda there." Also, over the course of a year beginning in 2018, the two brought Giuliani to Ukrainians who were amenable to promoting "a largely unsubstantiated narrative about the Bidens." These willing Ukrainians included Yuriy Lutsenko, a former Prosecutor General of Ukraine, who was essential to aiding Giuliani's efforts to produce damaging information. Viktor Shokin, also a former Prosecutor General of Ukraine, was part of this willing group.

The FBI's New York field office, along with SDNY prosecutors, are conducting a criminal investigation of Giuliani's relationship with Parnas and Fruman.

Arrest of Parnas and Fruman

The two were arrested on the evening of October 9, 2019 and charged with planning to direct funds from a foreign government "to U.S. politicians while trying to influence U.S.-Ukraine relations". They were arrested while trying to leave the United States and their arrest constitutes the first criminal charges to occur from the United States government's controversial relationship with Ukraine. Their arrest was described as a "complex web of financial and political interactions linking diplomacy to alleged violations of campaign finance law." The head of the New York's FBI office described the investigation as "about corrupt behavior, deliberate lawbreaking".

The charges have also directly connected Parnas and Fruman to the campaign to oust the United States ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, from her post and have her recalled. This occurred over many months. In 2018, the operation included Parnas and Fruman donating funds and pledging later additional moneys to an unnamed Congressman, who was recruited for the "campaign to oust her." Some of the funds violated campaign limits. Parnas and Fruman were also charged with unlawful campaign contributions. Former congressional Representative Pete Sessions (R-Texas) correlates with campaign finance filings, identifying him as the unnamed Congressman. At the time, as the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, he wrote a 2018 letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "saying that Ms. Yovanovitch should be fired for privately expressing 'disdain' for the current administration."

References

1. "Two Unofficial US Operatives Reporting To Trump's Lawyer Privately Lobbied A Foreign Government In A Bid To Help The President Win In 2020". BuzzFeed News.
2. "Two Key Players In The Ukraine Controversy Spent Lavishly As They Dug For Dirt on Biden". BuzzFeed News.
3. Nast, Condé. "Giuliani's Ukraine Goons Arrested Trying to Flee the U.S." Vanity Fair.
4. Tau, Aruna Viswanatha, Rebecca Ballhaus, Sadie Gurman and Byron. "Two Giuliani Associates Who Helped Him on Ukraine Charged With Campaign-Finance Violations". WSJ.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
5. ^ Butler, Desmond; Biesekler, Michael; Lardner, Richard (October 6, 2019). "AP sources: Trump allies pressed Ukraine over gas firm". Associated Press. Archived from the original on October 7, 2019. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
6. ^ Berman, Geoffrey S. "United States of America v. Lev Parnas, Igor Fruman, David Correia, and Andrey Kukushkin" (PDF) (Sealed indictment). United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. p. 5. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 12, 2019. Retrieved October 12, 2019 – via The Wall Street Journal.
7. Vogel, Kenneth P. (October 10, 2019). "Giuliani's Ukraine Team: In Search of Influence, Dirt and Money" – via NYTimes.com.
8. ^ Vogel, Kenneth P. (October 10, 2019). "Giuliani's Ukraine Team: In Search of Influence, Dirt and Money". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 11, 2019.
9. Katersky, Aaron; Margolin, Josh (October 11, 2019). "Rudy Giuliani's relationship with arrested men is subject of criminal investigation: Sources". ABC News. Archived from the original on October 11, 2019. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
10. ^ Barrett, Devlin; Wagner, John; Helderman, Rosalind S. (October 10, 2018). "Two business associates of Trump's personal attorney Giuliani have been arrested on campaign finance charges". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 12, 2019. Retrieved October 10, 2018.
11. ^ Mazzetti, Mark; Sullivan, Eileen; Goldman, Adam; Rashbaum, William K. (October 10, 2019). "2 Giuliani Associates Tied to Ukraine Scandal Arrested on Campaign Finance Charges". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 11, 2019.

External links

• www.example.com

• 2019 controversies in the United States
• 2019 in American politics
• 2019 in Ukraine
• 2019 in international relations