The indictment also added additional charges against Parnas, Correa and two other men – Igor Froman and Andrei Kokoshkin – relating to a foreign donor scheme alleged by prosecutors when the four were indicted last October. Although the additional charges filed Thursday do not materially change the nature of the case, they may increase pressure on the defendants to cooperate with the prosecution. The government said the investigation is continuing.
Lawyers for Parnas, Korea and Kokoshkin did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Froman’s lawyer declined to comment. All of the defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges contained in the original indictment and are due to face trial in February.
Prosecutors allege that Parnas and Korea raised more than $ 2 million from at least seven investors, and while some of the money was spent on business expenses, the majority were used for personal purposes. According to the indictment, Parnas spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on renting his personal residence, transferred more than $ 40,000 into accounts in his and his wife’s name, and spent more than $ 30,000 on luxury car rentals. Thousands of dollars have also been withdrawn in cash or transferred to other accounts, including those in Correa’s wife’s name.
Neither Parnas nor Correa’s wives have been charged with wrongdoing.
Prosecutors at the Manhattan Attorney General’s Office have looked to file fraud guarantee charges for several months, as FBI agents and prosecutors interviewed investors who had been brought before the Florida-based company, CNN reported, and summoned text messages and documents. Other related efforts. .
In 2018, the company paid Giuliani – President Donald Trump’s personal attorney – $ 500,000.
The attorney for a wealthy Republican donor, Charles Gucciardo, told CNN that Gucciardo paid Giuliani on behalf of Fraud Guarantee.
Although Gucciardo said Giuliani was paid to promote the company, Giuliani’s lawyer said he did legal work. In the indictment filed on Thursday, prosecutors did not mention Giuliani or direct any payments to him from the company.
But referring to “victim 7,” they described an individual who invested $ 500,000 in fraud assurance between September and October 2018 by transferring funds to an account with a consulting firm that Parnas and Korea maintained on behalf of the company.
Prosecutors have also added new charges related to alleged foreign donor plans, as they now accuse the men of soliciting foreign donation to the US election and the aid, incitement, and donation of a foreign citizen in the federal and state elections.
In addition to the new charges, plaintiffs have also added a forfeiture charge seeking to recover funds that were traced to the alleged plots. Prosecutors have previously raised questions about Parnas’ financial ambiguity.
One of the items removed from the indictment is a reference to the overthrow of then-US Ambassador to Ukraine Mary Jovanovic. In the initial indictment, prosecutors alleged that Parnas and Furman had committed to collecting money for a member of the US Congress who sought his help “in pushing the US government to dismiss or recall the US ambassador to Ukraine.” Prosecutors claimed that Parnas’ efforts were carried out, in part, at the request of one or more Ukrainian government officials.
The new indictment contains no reference to the Ukrainian official or the US ambassador. It is not clear if this is a reflection of the evidence collected. In a memorandum to the judge, prosecutors wrote a new indictment that “simplifies some factual allegations” in the donors’ scheme
