U.S. associates of Rudy Giuliani and President Trump funnel Russian money in the effort to acquire dirt on a leading 2020 candidate
Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman were indicted in October 2019 for making political contributions secretly and illegally funded an individual who is known as “Foreign National-1” in the federal indictment against the group, who “is a foreign national Russian citizen and businessman who, at all relevant times, was not a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States.” Foreign National-1 wired Parnas and Fruman two $500,000 transfers in Sept.-Oct. 2018 from overseas accounts, part of $1-2 million contemplated in a spreadsheet used by Parnas and his associates. Foreign National-1 also funded a marijuana startup that never came to fruition, leading some investigative journalists to suggest that it may be Andrey Muraview. In some cases, when Parnas and Fruman wanted to conceal the true source of their political donations, they incorporated an anonymous shell company called Global Energy Producers LLC (GEP), which had “no income or significant assets.”   While they made some donations directly in their own names, they falsely identified GEP as the contributor for some other donations (including the $325,000 contribution to America First Action on May 17, 2018), when in fact “the funds came from a private lending transaction between Fruman and third parties, and never passed through a GEP account.”

About This Incident

Threat Actors: Russia

Incident Metadata

Date: 2019- present
Country: United States