NEW YORK _ A family trust that lent money to an indicted associate of Rudy Giuliani is trying to get it back from a political action committee tied to President Donald Trump. The Giuliani associate, Lev Parnas, borrowed $510,000 from the Pues Family Trust and never repaid it, court records show. The trust won a federal court judgment in New York in 2016 to enforce repayment and registered the judgment in a Florida court this year to pursue the matter there, where Parnas lives. Parnas and a co-defendant, Lev Fruman, have been indicted in New York on allegations that they hid the source of campaign donations, including a $325,000 contribution in 2018 to the America First political action committee, which campaigns for causes advocated by Trump.
The filing begins to explain a question that has hovered over the case since Parnas and Fruman were arrested last month as they sought to leave the U.S. with one-way plane tickets: where they got the money they used for donations that opened the door to the president's inner circle.
The money "should have been used to satisfy the judgment, but was used for improper purposes," the filing said. "The money apparently was used to curry favor with the country's political elite in the GOP, a purely personal goal."
The documents filed in Florida allege that the money for the contribution came from a shell company called Aaron Investments that Parnas used to hide assets and avoid creditors. Lawyers for the trust asked a judge to enter a judgment against America First, Parnas and the shell companies. Aaron Investments received the money from a private lending transaction, according to prosecutors. When Parnas and Fruman were charged last month, America First said it had placed the money in a segregated account and left it untouched after questions were raised about it in a Federal Election Commission complaint and related litigation last year.
A spokeswoman for America First didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
The trust extended the funds to Parnas and a related holding company as a short-term loan and initiated a claim against Parnas in 2011 when the loan wasn't repaid. The initial judgment was for $350,000 but has grown with interest. Parnas and Fruman have pleaded not guilty in the New York case and have been allowed to remain free on bail under house arrest pending trial.
