Damian Williams, the US Lawyer for the Southern District of New York, introduced that LEV PARNAS was sentenced as we speak in Manhattan federal courtroom by United States District Choose J. Paul Oetken to 20 months in jail for conspiring to make political contributions by a international nationwide together with solicitation and aiding and abetting the making of the identical, conspiring to make straw donations, collaborating in a wire fraud conspiracy, and making false statements and falsifying data. PARNAS was beforehand discovered responsible on October 22, 2021 following a two-week jury trial on marketing campaign finance and false statements offenses, and pled responsible to collaborating in a wire fraud conspiracy on March 25, 2022.
U.S. Lawyer Damian Williams stated: “Parnas will now serve time in jail for his many crimes. Not content material to defraud buyers in his enterprise, Fraud Assure, out of greater than $2 million {dollars}, Parnas additionally defrauded the American public by pumping Russian cash into U.S. elections and mendacity concerning the supply of funds for political contributions. My workplace will proceed to aggressively prosecute those that put their private and monetary achieve above their nation and their buyers.”
In accordance with the allegations within the Indictment, courtroom paperwork, and proof introduced at trial:
The Overseas Donor Scheme
Within the spring of 2018, PARNAS, Igor Fruman, Andrey Kukushkin and Andrey Muraviev, a Russian oligarch, determined to launch a enterprise aimed toward buying retail hashish licenses in the US. As a part of that plan, Muraviev agreed to wire $1 million, via a sequence of financial institution accounts, to Fruman and PARNAS to fund lots of of hundreds of {dollars} in political contributions they’d made or promised to make earlier than the election in November 2018. The aim of the donations was to curry favor with candidates that may be capable to assist PARNAS and his co-conspirators get hold of hashish and marijuana licenses. To obscure the truth that Muraviev was the true donor of the cash, the funds have been despatched to a enterprise checking account managed by Fruman’s brother, after which the donations have been made in PARNAS’s and Fruman’s names.
The Straw Donor and False Statements Scheme
In March 2018, PARNAS and Fruman started attending political fundraising occasions in reference to federal elections and making substantial contributions to candidates, joint fundraising committees, and unbiased expenditure committees with the aim of enhancing their affect in political circles and having access to politicians.
In Might 2018, to acquire entry to unique political occasions and achieve affect with politicians, PARNAS and Fruman made a $325,000 contribution to an unbiased expenditure committee. PARNAS and Fruman additionally made hundreds of {dollars} in contributions to a federal candidate and a joint fundraising committee. Even supposing the Federal Election Fee (“FEC”) types for these contributions required PARNAS and Fruman to reveal the true donor of the funds, they falsely reported that the $325,000 contribution got here from World Power Producers, a purported liquefied pure fuel import-export enterprise that was integrated by PARNAS and Fruman across the time the contributions have been made. PARNAS additionally falsely said on contribution types that contributions to the federal candidate and joint fundraising committee have been paid for by him. In reality and in reality, the donations didn’t come from Parnas or GEP funds. Somewhat, the contributions have been all straw donations paid for by Fruman.
In response to a grievance filed with the FEC relating to the $325,000 contribution to the unbiased expenditure committee, and to additional conceal the true supply of the funds used to make sure of their donations, in or about October 2018, PARNAS and Fruman submitted sworn affidavits to the FEC that contained false statements, together with that the $325,000 contribution “was made with GEP funds for GEP functions” and that “GEP is an actual enterprise enterprise funded with substantial bona fide capital funding; its main function is vitality buying and selling, not political exercise.”
The Fraud Assure Scheme
Between in or about late 2012 and in or about mid-2019, PARNAS and David Corriea conspired to defraud a number of victims by inducing them to put money into their firm, often called “Fraud Assure,” primarily based on materially false and deceptive representations. Amongst different issues, PARNAS and Correia falsely claimed that the buyers’ funds can be used solely for reputable enterprise bills of Fraud Assure, when the truth is the funds have been largely withdrawn as money, transferred to non-public accounts, and used for numerous apparently private expenditures. PARNAS and Correia additionally made materially false representations regarding, amongst different issues, how a lot cash PARNAS had contributed to the corporate and the way a lot cash the corporate had raised general. At the least seven victims invested in Fraud Assure primarily based a minimum of partially on PARNAS’s and Correia’s false and deceptive representations, with every sufferer being fraudulently induced to pay lots of of hundreds of {dollars}, for a complete of greater than $2 million.
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PARNAS, 50, of Boca Raton, Florida, was sentenced to 20 months in jail, three years of supervised launch, in addition to $2,322,500 restitution. Igor Fruman was sentenced to 366 days in jail on January 21, 2022 for solicitation of a contribution by a international nationwide. Andrey Kukushkin was sentenced to 366 days in jail on March 15, 2022 for conspiring to make and aiding and abetting the making of a contribution by a international nationwide. David Correia was sentenced to 366 days in jail on February 8, 2021 for making false statements and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Andrey Muraviev is believed to be in Russia and stays at giant.
Mr. Williams praised the excellent investigative work of the FBI and its New York Subject Workplace.
This case is being dealt with by the Workplace’s Public Corruption Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rebekah Donaleski, Aline R. Flodr, Hagan Scotten, and Nicolas Roos are answerable for the prosecution.
