Lev Parnas Wiki

Lev Parnas is 47 years old born in Ukraine. He was arrested while trying to leave the U.S. The businessmen linked to the Trump-Ukraine scandal and who were arrested by federal authorities in Virginia on Thursday visited Israel last year as part of a group that met the U.S. Ambassador David Friedman.

Parnas and Fruman are close associates of Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s lawyer who led the president’s attempts to recruit the Ukrainian government to open a probe into Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President and candidate to be the 2020 Democratic nominee, Joe Biden.

They both were supposed to appear at depositions in Congress on Thursday about their work with Giuliani on the Ukrainian issue and were arrested at Dulles Airport while trying to leave the country. The two men were charged with campaign finance violations related to a $325,000 donation to a political action committee supporting Trump’s reelection. Prosecutors allege that Parnas and Fruman conspired to make illegal contributions to skirt the limit on federal campaign contributions. According to Haaretz.com.

Parnas and Fruman’s schemes are a little hard to follow. Prosecutors charged them, as well as two other men, with conspiracy, false statements to the Federal Election Commission, and falsifying records. “Protecting the integrity of elections, and protecting our elections from unlawful foreign influence, are core functions of our campaign-finance laws,” Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said at a press conference on Thursday.

The indictment says Parnas and Fruman “sought to advance their financial interests and the political interests of at least one Ukrainian government official with whom they were working” and took steps to conceal it from third parties, including creditors. They created a limited liability corporation, Global Energy Producers, and “intentionally caused certain large contributions to be reported in the name of GEP instead of in their names,” according to the indictment.

Prosecutors charge that the two men falsely claimed the contributions came from a liquefied natural gas business. At that point, the company had no income or significant assets, according to the indictment.

The big PAC donation in May 2018 was part of a flurry of political spending tied to Parnas and Fruman, with at least $478,000 in donations flowing to GOP campaigns and PACs in little more than two months. Parnas and Fruman were awarded the Chovevei Zion (Lovers of Zion) award at a National Council of Young Israel dinner in March, which they attended along with Giuliani, the Jewish Chronicle reported.

Lev Parnas Wife

He is married to Svetlana Parnas in 2012 and they share five children. Lev Parnas’ Son, Aaron Parnas, Interned at Rudy Giuliani’s Former Law Firm. Moreover, Svetlana Parnas is about 31 years old.