By Dartunorro Clark -
NBC News
Lev Parnas, a Ukrainian businessman who was mentioned in the first political trial of Donald Trump for his relationship with Rudy Giuliani, the former president's lawyer, was found guilty on Friday of a crime of illegal financing of electoral campaigns.
The prosecution accused Parnas and his partner Andrey Kukushkin of
illegally paying for campaigns of Republican candidates with money from abroad
during the 2018 elections with the aim of promoting their personal business interests.
"A federal jury has unanimously determined that Lev Parnas and Andrey Kukushkin conspired to manipulate the United States political system for their own financial gain," US Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.
Lev Parnas, outside court in New York on Oct. 12, 2021. Seth Wenig / AP
The trial, which began almost two weeks ago, involved charges related to a series of secret donations by a Russian citizen seeking to gain an advantage in the cannabis business.
Another plot was also investigated whereby Parnas and Igor Fruman, another former Giuliani collaborator, donated $ 325,000 in May to the
pro-Trump America First Action
political action committee
through a company called Global Energy Producers.
[A court suspends Rudy Giuliani's license as a lawyer for fabricating false fraud in the presidential elections]
According to federal investigators, Parnas later falsified federal electoral records to mask that donation.
Parnas was convicted of all charges against him
.
When Parnas was first arrested in October 2019, he and Fruman were about to board a plane from the United States bound for Austria without a return ticket.
Parnas and Fruman were key figures in Giuliani's operation to obtain incriminating evidence against Hunter Biden, the son of then-Democratic candidate and current president, Joe Biden.
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Parnas met with federal prosecutors and FBI agents in March to discuss a possible cooperation agreement in exchange for a guilty plea, according to court documents.
Prosecutors said Parnas had signed an agreement agreeing that some segments of his conversations with authorities be used against him, while protecting other claims from being used against him.