U.S. prosecutors said in court on Tuesday that Lev Parnas, an associate of U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, received a $1 million [loan] from a lawyer for Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash.
Prosecutors said that the Ukraine-born U.S. citizen Parnas, who has been charged with campaign finance violations, concealed the payment from them and said his bail should be revoked because he posed an “extraordinary risk” of fleeing the United States.
However, U.S. District Judge Paul Oetken in New York ruled at a hearing on Tuesday that Parnas may remain under house arrest in Florida. Parnas had not made any “clear or direct misstatement” about his finances, Oetken said.
[...]
Parnas was charged alongside another Florida businessman, Belarus-born Igor Fruman, with illegally funneling money to a pro-Trump election committee and other politicians. Fruman and Parnas have pleaded not guilty.
Their case is unfolding as prosecutors investigate payments made to Giuliani, who has not been charged with a crime and has denied any wrongdoing.
Giuliani has said Parnas and Fruman assisted him in investigating Trump’s political rival Joe Biden and Biden’s son Hunter, who served on the board of a Ukrainian energy company.
[...]
A lawyer for Parnas, Joseph Bondy, identified Firtash’s attorney as Swiss national Ralph Oswald Isenegger and said that Isenegger had asked for the money back.
[...]
Firtash, one of Ukraine’s wealthiest businessman, is fighting extradition by U.S. authorities on bribery charges from Vienna, where he has lived for five years.
Reuters
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
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