The two Ukrainian-born men working to help Rudy Giuliani try to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, were employed by a Russian citizen, the Dept. of Justice reveals in its 21-page indictment handed down today.
The men were arrested – reportedly attempting to flee the country – on campaign finance charges. It has also been reported they are represented by well-known former Trump attorney John Dowd, who was in charge of the White House’s defense during the Mueller investigation.
But it’s also been revealed, by Dowd himself, that the two men, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, were also working for Giuliani in his official capacity as the personal attorney for President Trump.
Marcy Wheeler at Emptywheel, citing the Dept. of Justice indictment, reports that a “key part of Parnas and Fruman’s crime is that they were laundering funds for ‘a foreign national Russian citizen and businessman.'”
From the indictment:
From in or about June 2018 through April 2019, LEV PARNAS, IGOR FRUMAN, DAVID CORREIA, and ANDREY KUKUSHKIN, the defendants, and others known and unknown, conspired to make political donations — funded by Foreign National-1 [the Russian] — to politicians and candidates for federal and State office to gain influence with candidates as to policies that would benefit a future business venture.
Wheeler adds: “It was only a matter of time before Trump was implicated in ConFraudUs with Russia.”
ConFraudUs stands for “conspiracy to defraud the U.S.“