Prosecutor: Foreigner fueled Giuliani associate’s donations
Lawyers opened the trial of an associate of Rudy Giuliani on Wednesday with plenty of talk about $1 million from a Russian financier that prosecutors contend was aimed at illegally influencing U.S. politicians, but there was little mention of Giuliani and other prominent political figures whose names will arise later in the trial.
As it turns out, only about $100,000 of the $1 million ever made it into the hands of U.S. politicians, prosecutors say.
The trial of Lev Parnas and Andrey Kukushkin began a day after jury selection with claims by Assistant U.S. Attorney Aline Flodr that the men conspired to hide illegal foreign campaign contributions made with money from Andrey Muraviev.