Giuliani associate gets year in prison in foreign donor case

NEW YORK — A Florida man who helped Rudy Giuliani seek damaging information against 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.

As part of the plea, he admitted soliciting a million dollars 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 as he announced 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 through a white face mask as several family members watched from wooden benches in an area for spectators.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Hagan Scotten had urged a sentence of at least three years behind bars, saying the crime had caused “incalculable damage” because it harms the trust the public has in U.S. elections.

“That all the things they fear are happening with politicians are happening,” he said.

Scotten said the crime does “grave damage to the integrity of the electoral system.”

Defense lawyer Todd Blanche said his client had suffered from eight days in jail after his arrest and two years and four months of home incarceration.

“That’s punishment enough, your honor,” he said.