A Ukrainian businessman allegedly paid him a million dollars: Lev Parnas is a confidant of Donald Trump's private lawyer Rudy Giuliani and is on trial in the United States. The Ukrainian-born is accused of violating the campaign finance law - also in favor of Trump.
The U.S. Attorney General has now submitted a notice to the court. According to this, Parnas is said to have received a payment of one million dollars from a lawyer of the Ukrainian oligarch Dmitrij Firtasch.
The Swiss lawyer Ralph Oswald Isenegger transferred Firtasch's money to the account of Svetlana Parnas, the wife of Lev Parnas. Prosecutor Rebekah Donaleski said it was not plausible that it was a loan or the like. It is not clear what the money was intended for. Prosecutors said last week that Parnas received $ 1 million from a Russian account in September.
Firtash is one of the richest business people in Ukraine. He is currently resisting a possible extradition to the US investigators. He is accused of bribery. Firtash has been living in Vienna for five years.
- Read here why the United States is chasing Ukraine's oligarchs
Trump probably financed Parnas with donations from abroad
Parnas was arrested together with Igor Fruman in October, the Belarusian is an employee of Giuliani. The two are said to have forwarded campaign donations from abroad to Republican campaigns in order to buy influence - money also went to campaigns for Trump. However, they allegedly disguised the origin of the money. The two are also said to have supported Giuliani in his efforts to persuade Ukrainian authorities to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Joe Biden is a possible Democratic candidate for the upcoming presidential campaign. Parnas and Fruman deny the allegations.
The discovery of the million payment is also explosive because Parnas estimated his assets at only $ 450,000 after his arrest. He was released after paying a deposit. Investigators now requested that the release be revoked. However, the judge ruled that Parnas can remain under house arrest in Florida. Parnas denies having hidden the payment.