A fourth person has been arrested in connection with federal campaign finance cases involving associates of President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani.
Federal authorities said American businessman David Correia was apprehended Wednesday at New York’s Kennedy Airport after flying there to turn himself in.
Correia’s arrest raises to four the number of defendants who have been arrested on federal charges of making hundreds of thousands of dollars in
illegal contributions to Republican campaigns, including a pro-Trump super political action committee (PAC).
A Ukrainian-born business associate of Correia, Andrey Kakushkin, was apprehended last week in California.
Last week, two associates of Giuliani were the first to be arrested.
The two Florida-based businessmen, who allegedly lobbied for the ouster of a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine last year, were being sought by House of Representatives impeachment investigators at the time of their arrest.
Lev Parnas, a Ukrainian-born U.S. citizen, and Igor Fruman, a Belarus-born U.S. citizen, were arrested by the FBI at Dulles International Airport outside Washington as they were departing the U.S., a law enforcement official said. They appeared in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, last Thursday.
The charges against the pair stem from a Federal Election Commission complaint filed last year by an independent watchdog that claimed the men set up a shell company in order to anonymously funnel campaign money to the pro-Trump super PAC called America First Action.
The 22-page indictment confirms the findings of the watchdog, Campaign Legal Center. According to the indictment, Parnas and Fruman used Global Energy Producers (GEP), a purported liquefied natural gas limited liability company, to contribute $325,000 to the super PAC in May 2018, and another $15,000 to a second political committee. Parnas gave $50,000 to Trump's 2016 election effort.
A Facebook screen grab provided by Campaign Legal Center shows Parnas with Trump at the White House on May 1, 2018. A second screen shot shows Parnas and Fruman with Donald Trump, Jr. the president's eldest son, three weeks later.
Kukushkin and the American-born Correia — also are named in the indictment in connection with a separate campaign finance violation scheme.
