New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Lev Parnas argues timing of his arrest orchestrated to protect Trump
NEW YORK — Lev Parnas, the indicted Ukrainian-born businessman whose affiliation with Rudy Giuliani became a focal point during President Donald Trump’s impeachment, has asked a federal judge to order the administration to turn over records he hopes will show his arrest was part of an elaborate plot to protect the president.
Attorney Joseph Bondy argued in court papers unsealed Tuesday that the timing of Parnas’s arrest in October 2019 was consistent with a pattern of behavior exhibited by the Justice Department under the leadership of Attorney General William Barr, who critics have accused of leveraging the power of his office in deference to
Trump and his interests. Bondy’s filing cites Barr’s intervention in the cases of Roger Stone and Michael Flynn, Trump allies swept up in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
A spokeswoman for Barr did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in the Southern District of New
York, which is overseeing Parnas’s prosecution, declined to discuss Bondy’s allegations.
Barr was scheduled to depart the administration Wednesday, having announced his resignation last week amid a refusal to take action on Trump’s baseless claims of widespread election fraud and in other matters the president believes cost him re-election
Last month, Parnas pleaded not guilty to charges he defrauded investors in a start-up called Fraud Guarantee, a business that prosecutors have said was defunct but purported to offer fraud-protection services to other companies. His business partner in that endeavor, David Correia, has already pleaded guilty. Parnas and Correia, along with associates Igor Fruman and Andrey Kukushkin, were initially charged last year in a campaign-finance scheme in which prosecutors allege foreign donations were funneled to candidates in the United States.
Bondy, in his 55-page submission to the court, argued that “as part of an intervention” by Barr, federal prosecutors in Manhattan elected to bring Parnas and his alleged accomplice Fruman into custody at Dulles International Airport “to time Mr. Parnas’s indictment and arrest to thwart him from being able to provide evidence to Congress during the Impeachment Inquiry of President Donald J. Trump.”
Parnas never appeared as witness during Trump’s impeachment, though he did provide some records to House Democrats as part of their investigation. His dramatic break with the president led to multiple cable news appearances and, notably, a staged appearance on Capitol Hill amid the drama.
Fruman’s attorney, in a motion unsealed Wednesday, sought to distance his client from Parnas. The lawyer, Todd Blanche, accused prosecutors of improperly building their case around communications covered by attorney-privilege and urged for dismissal. If the case does proceed, Blanche wrote, Fruman should be tried separately from Parnas because he was not affiliated with the fraud protection business.
“For better or worse, the media has paired (Fruman and Parnas) together, even though they are far apart, both in their strategy for defending this case” and with respect to the Fraud Guarantee allegation, the motion says.
Indeed, unlike Parnas, Fruman has kept a low public profile since their arrests. The Soviet emigres both were tied to Giuliani at one time, though, aiding in the former New York mayor’s quest to hunt for information in Ukraine they hoped would damage Trump’s opponent, Democrat Joe Biden, in the months leading up to November’s election.
They also are said to have played a role in Trump’s ouster of Marie Yovanovitch from her post as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine - a shake-up that setoff alarms in Washington.
Trump was impeached by the Democratic-controlled House, which alleged his administration withheld approximately $400 million in aid to Ukraine pending an announcement from the leadership in Kyiv that authorities there would investigate Biden and his son Hunter. The Republican-led Senate promptly acquitted Trump.
Parnas, in his motion unsealed Tuesday, contends that throughout Barr’s tenure as attorney general, he “repeatedly intervened to protect the President’s penal and political interests, drawing condemnation and calls for his recusal, resignation and impeachment.”