Pair tied to Ukraine probe arrested
DeSantis to return money from indicted businessmen
Gov. Ron DeSantis is returning a political contribution he received from two Soviet-born businessmen who are accused of funneling foreign cash into U.S. elections to increase their influence and promote their business interests, a spokeswoman said Thursday.
Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, both South Florida residents, donated $50,000 to the Friends of Ron DeSantis political committee on June 21, 2018, through a company named Global Energy Producers.
“The allegations regarding Global Energy Producers to the Governor’s affiliated political action committee in 2018 is troubling,” Helen Ferré, a DeSantis spokeswoman, said in an email. “Therefore, Governor DeSantis is directing the political action committee to return the money to the federal government.”
In the prepared statement, Ferré said DeSantis
may have attended large campaign events with Parnas and Fruman, but he has not had any one-on-one meetings with them to her knowledge. They made the donation a day before Trump tweeted his “full endorsement” of DeSantis.
“These individuals have not had any state business or meetings with the governor,” Ferré said. “Of course, the governor does not condone any illegal activities.”
A federal indictment released Thursday accuses Parnas and Fruman of scheming to circumvent campaign finance law to influence candidates for state and federal office, but it does not specifically reference Florida candidates.
Fruman made political contributions to candidates in addition to DeSantis, campaign finance records show.
■ He contributed $25,000 to Florida Grown on June 26, a political action committee affiliated with Republican gubernatorial candidate Adam Putnam. DeSantis defeated Putnam in the primary.
■ Fruman gave $20,400 to Sen. Rick Scott’s campaign and victory fund in May 2018.
■ Fruman gave $2,400 to Republican Congressman Brian Mast between March and June 2018.
Mast will return the
money he received to either charity or the treasury, said Brad Stewart, a spokesman for the congressman. Stewart said Mast has never met Parnas or Fruman.
“Until today, we had no idea who [Fruman] was,” Stewart said.
A Scott spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
Global Energy Producers is at the center of a federal indictment against Parnas and Fruman because of a contribution the group made to a Trump-aligned political committee.
Parnas and Fruman were arrested Wednesday night at Dulles International Airport in Virginia trying to leave the country with oneway tickets.
As associates of President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Parnas and Fruman played a key role in Giuliani’s efforts to get Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
Parnas helped raise funds for DeSantis at a July 18 event in Longwood headlined by Donald Trump Jr. and Fox News host Jeanine Pirro. DeSantis also attended an Oct. 3, 2018, fundraiser co-hosted by Parnas at a home in Hillsboro Beach that was attended by fewer than 30 people, the Miami Herald reported.
Despite those events, Parnas and Fruman didn’t make a splash on Florida’s political scene, said state Rep. Chip LaMarca, a Republican
state lawmaker from Broward County.
“I’ve never heard those names,” he said. “I’ve never bumped into them from a political standpoint.”
The Florida Democratic Party demanded DeSantis donate the campaign funds he received from Parnas and Fruman to charity. Terrie Rizzo, chair of the Florida Democratic Party, blasted the governor, saying, “the stench of Governor Ron DeSantis’ dirty money grows more foul with each passing day.”
Parnas and Fruman were arrested on a four-count indictment that includes charges of conspiracy, making false statements to the Federal Election Commission and falsification of records.
Records show they used wire transfers from the corporate entity Global Energy Producers to make a $325,000 donation to the pro-Trump America First Action committee in 2018. Records that became public through a lawsuit show that the corporate entity reported as making the transaction was not the true source of the money.
Concealing their scheme from candidates and federal regulators, the men made political contributions “for the purpose of gaining influence with politicians so as to advance their own personal financial interests and the political interests of Ukrainian government officials, including at least one
Ukrainian government official with whom they were working,” the indictment alleges.
They are accused of “engaging in a scheme to funnel foreign money to candidates for federal and state office,” according to the indictment.
One other possible Florida connection to Parnas’ and Fruman’s campaign cash involves former state Rep. Jason Brodeur, a Sanford Republican running for a crucial state Senate seat based in Seminole County.
On Nov. 9, 2018, Brodeur’s political committee received $44,250 from America First Action, the same PAC mentioned in the federal indictment.
The pair gave $325,000 to American First Action during the 2018 election cycle, but the group received donations from other sources as well. The donation to Brodeur’s PAC is the only state-level donation the group made in Florida.
A spokesman for Brodeur did not return a call seeking comment.
Brodeur has raised nearly $2.5 million with his political committee and campaign accounts for the hotly contested state Senate race in 2020, far surpassing the handful of Democrats in the race.
A lawyer for Parnas and Fruman, John Dowd, did not respond to a request for comment. Dowd had said that the men did not plan to appear before House committees investigating Trump. House Committees overseeing the impeachment inquiry issued subpoenas in response to their refusal to provide information.
Parnas lives in Boca Raton, and Fruman owns property in Sunny Isles, property records show. Parnas was born in Ukraine, and Fruman was born in Belarus, according to the indictment. Both are U.S. citizens, according to court documents.
Also named in the indictment were American-born David Correia and Ukrainian-born Andrey Kukushkin.
Parnas and Correia are listed as co-owners of Fraud Guarantee, an investment and anti-fraud consulting firm based in Boca Raton. The company’s website says Correia ran and sold restaurants before becoming a real estate investor. A Facebook profile of Correia also shows Trump and him posing together in a photo dated Jan. 3, 2018.
The four men, along with others “known and unknown,” conspired to make political donations funded by an unnamed “Foreign National-1” to “gain influence with candidates as to policies that would benefit a future business venture,” prosecutors allege.
To further their interests, they planned to make contributions to politicians in Nevada, New York and other states to facilitate acquisitions of retail marijuana licenses, the indictment alleges.
The unnamed foreigner made two $500,000 wire transfers from an overseas bank account to the defendants for political contributions to two political candidates for state office in Nevada, the indictment alleges. Foreigners are not permitted to contribute to U.S. elections.
The Campaign Legal Center flagged the political contributions last summer.
“We are pleased that federal law enforcement has conducted an investigation into these campaign finance crimes and made these two arrests,” Trevor Potter, president of the Campaign Legal, said in a prepared statement.
“The public is now learning just how dangerous dark money can be in U.S. elections, including the potential for illegal foreign funds, which DOJ says were used here. The fact that these two individuals were working with Giuliani and Ukrainian government officials to alter U.S. policy in that country will obviously be relevant to the impeachment investigation.”