“This was an illegal straw donor scheme” – Prosecutor explains how and WHY Giuliani associates were arrested…

by The Right Scoop

Two Soviet-born US citizens and Florida businessmen were arrested this morning as they attempted to flee the country. They were reportedly working with Giuliani on investigating Joe Biden:

The prosecutor explained that the two men, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, were attempting to buy one-way tickets at Washington Dulles International Airport when they were arrested:

In a press conference a few minutes ago, the prosecutor explained the charges against Parnas and Fruman:

Here’s a rush transcript from Grabien:

BERMAN: “Parnas and Fruman contributed $325,000 to committee one. Now, this contribution was not made in their name. It was made in the name of a corporation that they set up, GEP, in order to hide that the true individuals behind the donation were Parnas and Fruman. The $325,000, one of the largest donations committee one received. And we — in the indictment, we indicated, alleged that this was an illegal straw donor scheme. In addition, Parnas and Fruman made direct contributions to congressman one. These contributions direct and promised total over $20,000. Moreover, committee one spent approximately $3 million to benefit congressman one. As a result, Parnas and Fruman had several meetings with congressman one and at these meetings Parnas, on behalf of the Ukrainian government official, lobbied congressman one to advocate for the removal of the then-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine. Protecting the integrity of our elections and protecting our elections from unlawful foreign influence are core functions of our campaign finance laws. And as this office has made clear, we will not hesitate to investigate or prosecute those who engage in criminal conduct that draws into question the integrity of our political process.

And I want to add that this investigation is continuing. I want to acknowledge and thank our wonderful aides who worked on prosecuting and investigating this case and will continue to investigate this case. To my right is Rebecca Donnaleski and Nick Rose could not be here because he’s in the eastern district of Virginia assisting with the presentment of Parnas and Fruman. But to Rebecca’s right is Russ Capone and Edward discan and they are our marvelous co-chiefs of our public corruption unit. I also want to thank our partner in this case and so many of our important cases, the New York office of the FBI represented here today to my left, bill Sweeney, my good friend the assistant director in charge of the New York field office, to his left, Mike Driscoll, the special agent in charge of the criminal division and to his left George gazonby schedule agency for the FBI. My very good friend bill Sweeney for any comments you’d like to made.”

 
Rudy Giuliani spoke with Catherine Herridge this morning and told her that he believed the timing of this is very suspect:


Comment Policy: Please read our comment policy before making a comment. In short, please be respectful of others and do not engage in personal attacks. Otherwise we will revoke your comment privileges.