Judge rejected Lev Parnas’ argument that he was prosecuted for stopping from opening up to Trump

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Stephanie Keith / Getty Images

CNN –

A federal judge in New York has rejected Lev Parnas’ motion to dismiss the fraud and campaign charges, finding an argument he was accused of blocking him from collaborating against former President Donald Trump was not just speculation. guess, but can’t figure out.

Parnas, a former colleague of Rudy Giuliani, argued he was arrested and charged in late 2019 to prevent him from cooperating in the Chamber’s impeachment investigation into Trump’s activities in Ukraine.

Parnas and Igor Fruman worked with Guiliani in his efforts to dig up dirt on Trump’s rival Joe Biden and push for Ukraine to announce the investigation into Biden and his son Hunter.

But the theory of Twitters users, and Parnass’s own conjecture, does not constitute evidence of a false motivation prosecution, Judge Paul Oetken wrote, noting that Parnas initially did not cooperate with the impeachment. that questioning. To accept Parnass’s conspiracy theory, the Government needs to know that, one day in the future, Parnas will change his mind and decide to cooperate with what Congress is demanding.

The judge said the government did not object to television shows in Parnas and media interviews. The judge also denied Parnas a request to seek notes from the government to pursue the theory.

Parnas, Fruman and Andrey Kukushkin are set to stand trial in October on three different alleged schemes. All three men pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Each of the defendants submitted motions to separate their trials from the others.

The judge granted only one of those requests and agreed to separate the charges against Parnas for allegedly defrauding investors in a company called Fraud Guarantee, for which only Parnas is indicted.

The three men were all together in litigation over alleged schemes that they used straw donors and foreign donors to make donations to the US election campaign.

Neither the evidence nor the nature of the suspected schemes, which are straightforward, supports a conclusion that a joint trial would be entirely indiscriminate, the judge wrote.

The judge denied the defendants’ request for a court hearing to discuss any material obtained from government search warrants executed on Giuliani and attorney Victoria Toensings of electronic devices in April.

The judge said any relevant material or communication involving the defendants was likely produced from Parnass and Frumans own devices.

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