Great article, not surprised ever since I saw this shit years ago:
It was a creation of Delaware corporate paperwork magic that facilitated the transfer of money from an unnamed Russia oligarch into the coffers of Republican candidates across America, according to a federal indictment filed last week.
At the time, DeSantis, an office-seeking acolyte of President Donald Trump — the recipient of $325,000 of the secret Russian donations — was a natural target for Kremlin cash.
You’d think the our governor-to-be would have been a little suspicious of Russian-speaking sketchy businessmen bearing gifts and making the short list at his campaign fundraisers.
It was around the same time that DeSantis had sent out an election mailer promising to “drain the swamp in Tallahassee.” Then a month later, he’s not blinking when he gets a gift of $50,000 from an imaginary company through its two principals, Lev Parnes and Igor Fruman, who appear to be sent by a casting agent looking to fill roles for Bond villains.
But it was just a way to launder foreign money through an American limited liability company, concealing a money trail that started with an unnamed Russian-citizen businessman, through Parnas and Fruman, and into the campaigns of Republican elected officials across America, according to the indictment.
The men “conspired to circumvent the federal laws against foreign influence by engaging in a scheme to funnel foreign money to candidates for federal and state office so that the defendants could buy potential influence with candidates, campaign, and the candidates’ governments,” the indictment said
Strange but not damning considering when exposed they returned the donations.
The night after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was elected in 2018, Russian businessman Andrey Muraviev texted Lev Parnas & Igor Fruman’s congrats “on victory.” Now Muraviev has been charged with illegally supplying cash Parnas & Fruman doled out to politicos
Hmmm, maybe it wasn’t just sOmE bUsInEsS related corruption after all…
Parnas’s and Fruman’s ties to Giuliani played prominently in President Donald Trump’s first impeachment proceeding, in which Trump was accused of abusing his authority by threatening to withhold $400 million in military aid from Ukraine if officials there did not announce a criminal investigation into candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
Giuliani, Trump’s former personal attorney, had worked with Parnas and Fruman to search for anything that would incriminate Biden in advance of the 2020 election.
hmmmmmmmmm
His wife.
Me