Giuliani Associate Lev Parnas Seeks Dismissal of Charges Against Him

(Bloomberg) -- Lawyers for Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas filed court papers seeking to dismiss charges of making illegal campaign contributions, arguing he was singled out for prosecution as a means of thwarting his potential testimony in the Congressional impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump.

The prosecution is unfair because other people implicated in the scheme have not been charged, Parnas attorneys said in a filing Tuesday in New York. Among those not charged are political action committees and politicians that received donations from Parnas and his co-defendants, others who provided donated funds or an individual who gave money to Parnas for personal expenses, according to the filing.

During the impeachment proceedings, Parnas’s previous lawyers had sent Congress a letter saying he would not appear for his scheduled deposition. After hiring new lawyers, Parnas eventually provided evidence to the committees involved in the inquiry.

Parnas and his associate Igor Fruman were working with Giuliani to dig up political dirt on Joe Biden and his son Hunter in Ukraine, in the hope of derailing Biden’s presidential campaign. The effort included removing the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine at the time.

Prosecutors said Parnas was arrested while trying to board a flight to Vienna, Austria, with one-way plane ticket. His attorneys dispute that claim, saying the return hadn’t been arranged because his schedule wasn’t set at the time. Parnas and Fruman were charged with laundering illegal foreign funds into U.S. political campaigns and misrepresenting the true source of contributions. Both have pleaded not guilty.

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment.

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