Updated Dec 17, 2019 - Politics & Policy

Prosecutors say Lev Parnas hid $1 million payment from Russia

Zachary Basu

A judge has rejected a request by prosecutors in the Southern District of New York to revoke bail for Lev Parnas for making false statements about his assets, including a $1 million payment he allegedly received from Russia in September.

The latest: In a filing Tuesday, prosecutors said the money came from a Swiss lawyer to Dmytro Firtash, a Ukrainian oligarch fighting extradition to the U.S. on bribery and racketeering charges. Firtash, who is believed to have links to Russian organized crime, is represented in the U.S. by Trump-allied attorneys Joseph DiGenova and Victoria Toensing.

Why it matters: Parnas is an associate of Rudy Giuliani's who was indicted in October on campaign finance charges. He helped connect Giuliani with Ukrainian officials who pushed unsubstantiated allegations about Joe Biden and his son, eventually resulting in an impeachment inquiry after President Trump and Giuliani led a campaign to pressure Ukraine to investigate the allegations.

The big picture: Parnas' lawyer Joseph Bondy has repeatedly requested that prosecutors turn over documents they seized so that Parnas could provide them to the House Intelligence Committee for its impeachment inquiry. Call records in the Democrats' impeachment report show that Parnas communicated with the committee's ranking member Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), which Bondy has claimed his client remembers.

Read the court filing.

Go deeper: Call records show Devin Nunes in contact with Parnas

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Prosecutors say Lev Parnas hid $1 million payment from Russia

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