FBI arrests 4th man in campaign finance case

David Correia leaves federal court Wednesday in New York after he surrendered at Kennedy Airport.
David Correia leaves federal court Wednesday in New York after he surrendered at Kennedy Airport.

WASHINGTON -- David Correia, the fourth defendant in a campaign finance case involving business associates of President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, was arrested Wednesday morning at a New York City airport, officials said.

Correia has been charged with participating in a scheme to use foreign money to build political support for a fledgling recreational marijuana business in Nevada and other states, according to an indictment unsealed last week that also charged Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman with conspiracy and making false statements to campaign finance regulators.

The other three defendants were quickly arrested by the FBI, but Correia's whereabouts were unclear until Wednesday morning. Correia was expected to make a brief court appearance Wednesday, and he and another person charged in the case, Andrey Kukushkin, are due back in court today.

Parnas and Fruman were originally expected to appear in court today as well, but their hearing has been pushed back to next week. Fruman was released on bond Wednesday, but Parnas remains in jail for the time being.

"The defendant was taken into custody by the FBI at JFK earlier this morning," said Nicholas Biase, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan.

Parnas and Fruman, who had been helping Giuliani investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, were arrested a week ago at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, where they had one-way tickets on a flight out of the country, officials said.

Giuliani's business dealings with the men are part of the federal investigation, according to people familiar with the matter.

Ken McCallion, a New York lawyer who represents clients in Ukraine, said Wednesday that FBI agents reached out to him early this year, asking if he knew whether Giuliani was connected to Fruman and Parnas -- an indication of just how long federal agents have been interested in the former New York mayor's interactions with the two Florida men.

A grand jury subpoena has been issued to former congressman Pete Sessions, a Texas Republican, who interacted with Giuliani, Parnas and Fruman. Parnas and Fruman are accused of violating campaign finance laws by making donations to Sessions' campaign that exceeded federal limits.

The indictment says Parnas met with Sessions in 2018 seeking his "assistance in causing the U.S. government to remove or recall the then-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine," the indictment alleges.

Giuliani and Sessions have denied wrongdoing. Parnas and Fruman have not formally entered pleas yet to the charges.

Correia is charged with conspiracy as part of an alleged scheme involving donations to Nevada politicians in the hopes of winning support for a marijuana business secretly backed by an unidentified Russian businessman. Kukushkin, of California, was arrested last week, according to authorities.

Correia is not charged in the part of the case involving Sessions, but he has significant ties to the companies under scrutiny. He has been identified as chief operating officer of a company called Fraud Guarantee that he co-founded with Parnas. Giuliani has said he was paid $500,000 for work he did for Fraud Guarantee in 2018 and 2019.

Correia is also listed as an officer at Global Energy Partners. According to the indictment, Parnas and Fruman disguised the source of a $325,000 donation made in 2018 to America First, the main pro-Trump super PAC, by giving that money in the name of Global Energy Partners. Federal prosecutors say the company was a front used to disguise the funds' true source and that the money came from "a private lending transaction between Fruman and third parties."

Information for this article was contributed by Tom Hamburger and Rachel Weiner of The Washington Post.

A Section on 10/17/2019

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