Tag: Lev Parnas

Federal prosecutors weigh new charges that bring Lev Parnas investigation closer to Giuliani

NEW YORK (CNN) — Federal prosecutors are weighing new charges against associates of Rudy Giuliani in connection with a company that paid him $500,000, according to people familiar with the investigation.

Prosecutors with the US attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York are considering whether to charge Giuliani associate Lev Parnas and at least one of his business partners with misleading potential investors for Fraud Guarantee, the Florida-based company that paid Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, these people say. Parnas co-founded Fraud Guarantee with the idea of providing insurance to companies to protect against fraud.

The scrutiny of Fraud Guarantee brings the investigation closer to Giuliani, Trump’s vocal defender, and raises questions about what role the former mayor played, if any, in the marketing of the company. A lawyer for Giuliani said his client never had any conversations about investor pitches or marketing with Parnas or his business partner David Correia. Continue reading.

New recording shows access Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman had to Trump at Mar-a-Lago donor event

Washington Post logoTen days before Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman dined with President Trump at his Washington hotel, they were part of a small group of Republican Party donors who met with the president at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate, a new recording shows.

The two men — who later assisted Rudolph W. Giuliani’s efforts in Ukraine — were part of a gathering held in an ornate room of the property and also attended by Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, according to the video and people in attendance.

While it was known that Fruman and Parnas had attended an event at Mar-a-Lago, the focus of the event, the timing and who else was in attendance had not been made public. Continue reading.

Four significant questions raised by the newly released recording of Trump and Lev Parnas

Washington Post logoAt the beginning of a video released Saturday by an attorney representing Lev Parnas, we see a hallway. At the end of the hallway is an arch with a dark-colored backdrop, in front of which two people appear to be posing for a photograph. Behind the person on the left is what looks like an American flag.

That shot establishes what we’re looking at: footage captured during a fundraising dinner on April 30, 2018, for the group America First Action, which was held at Trump’s D.C. hotel. That shot is definitive because it’s trivial to match that distant scene with one we’ve seen from a much closer perspective, thanks to material released by the House Intelligence Committee. In one photo from the committee, for example, we see Parnas and President Trump standing in front of an archway with blue curtains, flanked by American flags.

Parnas would become tightly integrated into Trump’s circle, though the distance at which he was kept varies depending on whom you ask. Trump insists Parnas, an eventual business associate of Trump’s personal attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani, was only given access to the president because he’d contributed to Trump’s campaign or to America First. Parnas, the argument goes, was simply one of hundreds of such people who take photos with the president. To hear Parnas tell it, though, his work for Giuliani in late 2018 and in 2019 was well-known by Trump and was integral to the effort to get Ukraine to investigate former vice president Joe Biden, a possible opponent of Trump’s in the upcoming election. Continue reading.

There Are More Recordings Of Donald Trump And Lev Parnas, Attorney Reveals

The latest bombshell tape could be just the beginning.

The lawyer for Lev Parnas told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Saturday that there are other recordings of his client and President Donald Trump.

Joseph Bondy revealed the existence of other tapes just hours after he released a video of the president giving the order to “get rid of” then-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.

“Are there more recordings that Lev Parnas has? With the president?” Cooper asked Bondy.

“Yes,” Bondy replied. Continue reading.

Four significant questions raised by the newly released recording of Trump and Lev Parnas

Washington Post logoAt the beginning of a video released Saturday by an attorney representing Lev Parnas, we see a hallway. At the end of the hallway is an arch with a dark-colored backdrop, in front of which two people appear to be posing for a photograph. Behind the person on the left is what looks like an American flag.

That shot establishes what we’re looking at: footage captured during a fundraising dinner on April 30, 2018, for the group America First Action, which was held at Trump’s D.C. hotel. That shot is definitive because it’s trivial to match that distant scene with one we’ve seen from a much closer perspective, thanks to material released by the House Intelligence Committee. In one photo from the committee, for example, we see Parnas and President Trump standing in front of an archway with blue curtains, flanked by American flags.

Parnas would become tightly integrated into Trump’s circle, though the distance at which he was kept varies depending on whom you ask. Trump insists Parnas, an eventual business associate of Trump’s personal attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani, was only given access to the president because he’d contributed to Trump’s campaign or to America First. Parnas, the argument goes, was simply one of hundreds of such people who take photos with the president. To hear Parnas tell it, though, his work for Giuliani in late 2018 and in 2019 was well-known by Trump and was integral to the effort to get Ukraine to investigate former vice president Joe Biden, a possible opponent of Trump’s in the upcoming election. Continue reading.

“TAKE HER OUT”: Donald Trump’s Role in the Ukraine Scheme is Reportedly Caught on Tape

Lordy, there are tapes—or, at least, one tape. When Lev Parnas, one of Rudy Giuliani’s Ukraine bagmen, gave an interview to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow last week, he recalled attending a private dinner in April, 2018, at the Trump International Hotel, on Pennsylvania Avenue, where the hotel’s proprietor, who works part time as the forty-fifth President of the United States, ordered a White House aide to fire Marie Yovanovitch, a veteran diplomat who was then serving as the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine.

This was one of many damaging claims that Parnas made to Maddow, prompting Trump’s supporters to dismiss him as a self-serving fantasist. But, on Friday, it emerged that Igor Fruman, Parnas’s sidekick and fellow-defendant, has provided a tape recording to federal prosecutors that features Trump using mob-boss language to order Yovanovitch’s axing. ABC News, in a reportpublished on Friday morning, as the House managers were preparing to wrap up their presentation in the Senate impeachment trial, said that it has reviewed a tape recording in which a voice that “appears to be President Trump’s” says of Yovanovitch, “Get rid of her! Get her out tomorrow. I don’t care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. O.K.? Do it.”

The White House’s response to the ABC News story didn’t deny that Trump attended the dinner, which reportedly took place on April 30, 2018, or that the President used the language attributed to him in the ABC News report. “Every President in our history has had the right to place people who support his agenda and his policies within his Administration,” the White House press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, said in a statement.

Parnas attorney asks William Barr to recuse himself from investigation

The Hill logoA lawyer for Lev Parnas, an associate of President Trump‘s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, is asking Attorney General William Barr to recuse himself from an investigation into alleged campaign finance violations against Parnas.

Joseph Bondy made the request in a letter sent to Barr and filed in New York federal court on Monday, CNN reported. In it, Bondy argues that Barr has a “conflict of interest” in the matter and that he should appoint a special prosecutor from outside the Justice Department to handle the case.

“Given the totality of the circumstances, we believe it is appropriate for you to recuse yourself from the ongoing investigation and pending prosecution of Mr. Parnas,” wrote Bondy.  Continue reading.

New Evidence Troubles White House Because ‘Parnas Has Receipts’

Lev Parnas, a longtime associate of Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, is causing “concern” among White House officials after he publicly turned on the president and claimed “Trump knew exactly everything that was going on that Rudy Giuliani was doing in Ukraine.”

Parnas, who has been cooperating with the House Intelligence Committee and handed over a “trove” of impeachment documents last week, was integral to Giuliani’s efforts to pressure a Ukrainian investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.

While some senators, including Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), have downplayed the relevance of Giuliani and Parnas’ efforts in Ukraine as they pertain to Trump’s impeachment, CBS White House correspondent Weijia Jiang on Sunday said there’s “a recognition among sources who are being honest that even if [Parnas is] not an official witness, he’s already impacting this trial.” Continue reading.

Parnas pressure grows on Senate GOP

The Hill logoPressure is growing on Senate Republicans to call Lev Parnas, an associate of President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, to testify in the impeachment trial. 

Democrats are opening the door to hearing from Parnas as a witness at the impeachment trial after an explosive round of media interviews and new evidence released by House Democrats, which details Parnas’s role in trying to convince the Ukrainian government to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden.

The revelations, Democrats argue, underscore the need for witnesses and documents — something Republicans have so far resisted.  Continue reading.