A Russian-born businessman has been sentenced to 20 months in prison for his role in a scheme to pump Russian money into U.S. elections and lying about the source of funds for political contributions.
Lev Parnas, 52, was sentenced in Manhattan federal court by United States District Judge J. Paul Oetken to 20 months in prison for conspiring to make political contributions by a foreign national, soliciting and aiding and abetting the making of the same, conspiring to make straw donations, participating in a wire fraud conspiracy, and making false statements and falsifying records.
Parnas was previously found guilty on October 22, 2021, following a two-week jury trial on campaign finance and false statements offenses, and pleaded guilty to participating in a wire fraud conspiracy on March 25, 2022.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said, “Parnas will now serve time in prison for his many crimes. Not content to defraud investors in his business, Fraud Guarantee, out of more than $2 million dollars, Parnas also defrauded the American public by pumping Russian money into U.S. elections and lying about the source of funds for political contributions. My office will continue to aggressively prosecute those who put their personal and financial gain above their country and their investors.”
According to the allegations in the Indictment, court documents, and evidence presented at trial, the Foreign Donor Scheme involved Parnas, Igor Fruman, Andrey Kukushkin, and Andrey Muraviev, a Russian oligarch, who decided to launch a business aimed at acquiring retail cannabis licenses in the United States.
In the spring of 2018, Muraviev agreed to wire $1 million, through a series of bank accounts, to Fruman and Parnas to fund hundreds of thousands of dollars in political contributions they had made or promised to make before the election in November 2018. The purpose of the donations was to curry favor with candidates that might be able to help Parnas and his co-conspirators obtain cannabis and marijuana licenses.
The Straw Donor and False Statements Scheme involved Parnas and Fruman making substantial contributions to candidates, joint fundraising committees, and independent expenditure committees with the purpose of enhancing their influence in political circles and gaining access to politicians. They falsely reported that a $325,000 contribution came from Global Energy Producers, a purported liquefied natural gas import-export business that was incorporated by Parnas and Fruman around the time the contributions were made.
Parnas also falsely stated on contribution forms that contributions to the federal candidate and joint fundraising committee were paid for by him. In truth and in fact, the donations did not come from Parnas or GEP funds. Rather, the contributions were all straw donations paid for by Fruman.
Parnas’s crimes defrauded investors in his business, Fraud Guarantee, out of more than $2 million dollars, and defrauded the American public by pumping Russian money into U.S. elections and lying about the source of funds for political contributions.
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Key Facts
- State: New York
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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