Saturday 23 October 2021
Influencing politicians
Giuliani confidante convicted of illegal donations
In the Ukraine affair he had incriminated Trump, now Lev Parnas himself is found guilty: The former business partner of Trump confidante Rudy Giuliani is trying to influence the US election in 2020 with donations from abroad. The reason according to the court: business interests.
A court in New York has convicted a former business partner of Trump’s confidante Rudy Giuliani for making illegal campaign donations. The Manhattan prosecutor said the jury unanimously found Lev Parnas and a co-defendant guilty. They wanted to gain influence with politicians and candidates with illegal donations before the congressional election in 2018 – also in favor of the ex-President, Donald Trump. The background was business interests.
A sentence was initially not announced. The judge denied a prosecutor’s motion to arrest Parnas and his co-defendant. According to the judge, the defendants had sufficiently demonstrated that there was no risk of flight.
Parnas had incriminated the former US President Donald Trump in his impeachment proceedings in January. Trump was accused in the trial of urging Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi to investigate his political rival Joe Biden in order to influence the 2020 US presidential election in his favor. Giuliani is said to have tried to find incriminating material about Biden in Ukraine. Parnas is said to have played a central role in this.
The efforts were not successful. Democrat Biden won the election and has been president since January. The majority in the US Senate necessary to convict Trump in the impeachment proceedings did not come about at the time.