Giuliani ally gets year in prison
Florida man solicits money from Russian for GOP funds
NEW YORK — A Florida man who helped Rudy Giuliani seek damaging information on Joe Biden in Ukraine was sentenced to a year and a day in prison and fined $10,000 Friday in an unrelated campaign finance case.
Igor Fruman was told to report to prison March 14. He pleaded guilty in September to a single charge of solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national.
He admitted soliciting $1 million from a Russian entrepreneur, Andrey Muraviev, to donate to Republicans in Nevada, Florida and other states as part of an effort to launch a recreational marijuana business.
Federal prosecutors in New York had urged Judge J. Paul Oetken to sentence Fruman to between three and four years in prison. Defense lawyers had argued he should face no incarceration because he has otherwise led a law-abiding life.
Oetken said the crime of soliciting foreign money for U.S. political campaigns was serious and deserved incarceration.
“It undermines the integrity of elections in our country,” he said in announcing the sentence. “It undermines democracy.”
Fruman, 55, the father of four children, told the judge he had reflected on his crime.
“It’s a shame that will live with me forever,” he said.
Fruman was charged along with Lev Parnas, another Florida businessman who helped Giuliani’s attempt to spoil Biden’s quest for the presidency.
The pair served as liaisons between Giuliani and Ukrainian officials and business tycoons as the former New York City mayor tried to persuade prosecutors in that country to investigate Biden’s son, Hunter, over his work for an energy company.
U.S. prosecutors haven’t brought any charges in connection with the Ukrainian influence campaign, which was the subject of one of former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trials, but focused instead on donations that Fruman and Parnas made to U.S. politicians as they sought to build influence in Republican political circles.
Parnas was convicted of campaign finance crimes in October and awaits sentencing.
Politicians who got the illegal donations, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, have said they were unaware the money came from a foreign source.
GIULIANI DEVICES
Meanwhile, the retired federal judge assigned to review the contents of 18 electronic devices seized from Giuliani’s home and offices in Manhattan last spring has withheld about half of what the former Trump lawyer argued should be kept out of the hands of investigators because it was privileged.
More than 3,000 communications were released to prosecutors Wednesday, an action reflected in a four-page report submitted to a judge overseeing litigation on the FBI’s April 28 seizure of Giuliani’s phones and computers. The contents of the devices were not disclosed.
The Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office has been investigating Giuliani’s dealings in Ukraine while he was representing Trump. Prosecutors have said he might have acted as an unregistered foreign agent, which was the basis for the agents’ search.
Giuliani has denied any wrongdoing.
Giuliani’s attorney, Robert Costello, said his review of the contents of the devices revealed no messages between Giuliani and the former president, and no proof of any crime. Trump is known for his avoidance of electronic messages, a habit that has frustrated investigators.
Barbara Jones, in her progress statement filed Friday, reported that of the more than 25,000 chats and messages contained on a cellphone dating to the start of 2018, Giuliani initially asserted “privilege and/ or highly personal” status on 96 items, 40 of which she granted. His attorneys withdrew their assertions on 19 of the items, and Jones said 37 “were not privileged.”
From that set of records, 56 items were released to federal prosecutors. On another set of Giuliani’s devices, more than 3,000 communications from Dec. 1, 2018 to May 31, 2019 were reviewed, but he did not assert privilege on any of the items. They were also released to prosecutors this week.
DEGREES REVOKED
The University of Rhode Island is revoking honorary degrees bestowed upon Giuliani and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who briefly served as Trump’s national security adviser before resigning following reports he misled White House officials about his contacts with Russia.
The university’s board of trustees voted Friday to revoke the degrees following internal deliberations that included a recommendation by school President Marc Parlange, who said in a statement that Flynn and Giuliani “no longer represent” the values and standards they demonstrated when they received the honors.
“As a civic institution, URI [University of Rhode Island] has the privilege and responsibility to sustain and preserve American democracy by inspiring and modeling good citizenship,” Parlange said. “Revoking these honorary degrees reinforces our values and allows us to lead with truth and integrity.”
A spokesperson for Giuliani didn’t respond to an email seeking comment, but Flynn’s family released a lengthy and strongly worded statement ahead of Friday’s vote in which it dismissed it as “cowardly and corrupt.”