WASHINGTON _ Two associates of Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, have been arrested on charges of violating campaign finance laws in connection with their efforts to "funnel foreign money" from Russia into Trump's campaign.
The two men were also involved in efforts to oust the then-U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, according to the indictment. The arrests of the two businessmen, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, both based in Florida, open a new front in the fast-developing Ukraine scandal, which already has led to an impeachment inquiry against Trump.
The two were arrested Wednesday night at Dulles International Airport as they tried to flee the country, according to a U.S. law enforcement official. Shortly after arrests were announced Thursday, they were subpoenaed by House Democrats to provide documents and depositions in the impeachment case.
Giuliani has publicly said that the two helped connect him with Ukrainian prosecutors. At the time Giuliani was pushing the Ukrainians to open an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden.
A federal indictment charges the two with conspiracy, making false statements to the Federal Election Commission and falsification of records. They had been under investigation by the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan and are expected to appear in federal court on Thursday in Virginia. Their arrests were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
In the indictment, Parnas is identified as a businessman and U.S. citizen who was born in Ukraine. Fruman is described as a businessman and U.S. citizen who was born in Belarus. Two other men, David Correia, a native-born U.S. citizen, and Andrey Kukushkin, a U.S. citizen born in Ukraine, were also charged. Kukushkin was arrested in California and is expected to appear in court Thursday, a Justice Department official said.
According to the indictment, Parnas and Fruman attempted to mask personal donations to a pro-Trump super PAC by funneling the money through a business they created, Global Energy Partners, "a purported liquefied natural gas (LNG) import-export business" that at the time the contributions were made, "had not engaged in the LNG business, and had no income or significant assets."
Beginning in March 2018, Parnas and Fruman began attending fundraisers and making substantial contributions "with the purpose of enhancing their influence in political circles and gaining access to politicians," prosecutors stated.
The two were not shy about their relationship with the president, posting pictures from a May 2018 dinner with the president on Facebook (the post was later deleted), as well as a photo from a breakfast later that month with the president's son Donald Trump Jr. at a fundraiser in Beverly Hills.
The indictment also alleges that the two men worked to oust the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, whom Trump removed from her post this spring. They also made large donations to "a then-sitting U.S. Congressman." The indictment does not identify the former congressman, but it provides details of his connections with the two that allow him to be identified as former Rep. Pete Sessions, a Texas Republican who encouraged Trump to recall Yovanovitch.
Parnas' efforts to oust Yovanovitch, who Sessions and Giuliani insisted was blocking efforts to get Ukraine to continue its Biden investigation, "were conducted, at least in part, at the request of one or more Ukrainian government officials," the indictment states.
Parnas and Fruman helped arrange a January meeting in New York between Ukraine's former top prosecutor, Yuri Lutsenko, and Giuliani, as well as other meetings with top government officials.
Attorney General William Barr was briefed about this investigation in February, and he was informed Wednesday night that the two men were about to be arrested, according to a Justice Department official.
The men were not expected to voluntarily appear at the scheduled depositions on Thursday and Friday, according to the Miami Herald.
John Dowd, who represents Parnas and Fruman, also said in a recent letter that the men would not respond to a request from investigators for documents by the requested deadline, calling the request "overly broad and unduly burdensome." Dowd said his clients would engage in a "rolling production of nonprivileged documents."
