Florida real estate entrepreneurs Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman just pleaded not guilty in New York court today.
Democrats are wanting to tie the businessmen to Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump.
The two are accused of illegally funneling donations to President Trump and others.
The two businessmen pleaded not guilty in court.
They were released on bond.
The Miami Herald reported:
Two men who have served as Rudy Giuliani’s conduit to Ukraine pleaded not guilty in Manhattan federal court Wednesday to charges that they funneled foreign money to US campaign coffers, with one of their lawyers suggesting executive privilege could apply to material in the case.
Igor Fruman and Lev Parnas were indicted earlier this month on four counts, including conspiracy to violate the ban on foreign donations to federal and state elections, making false statements and falsifying records to the Federal Election Commission.
The two are linked closely with Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s personal attorney. For months, they have aided Giuliani’s effort to compile what he has claimed is damaging information on Trump’s political rival, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, whose son, Hunter Biden, was on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
Belarus-born Fruman and Ukraine-born Parnas, both US citizens and Florida residents who wore American flag pins on the lapels of their jackets Wednesday, introduced Giuliani to former and current Ukrainian officials, and Parnas’ company, Boca Raton-based Fraud Guarantee, paid Giuliani $500,000, he told Reuters.
