New US charges likely in Giuliani-allies case

Bloomberg

The US is “likely” to bring additional charges in a case against Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, associates of Rudy Giuliani who are accused of skirting campaign contribution limits as part of a plot to oust the American ambassador to Ukraine, a prosecutor said.
The comment was made at an hour-long court hearing in Manhattan. Responding to a question from US District Judge Paul Oetken about whether the government planned to file additional charges, Assistant US Attorney Douglas Zolkind said: “Certainly the investigation is ongoing. We think a superseding indictment is likely, but no decision has been made. It’s something we continue to evaluate.”
Parnas and Fruman were charged in October. According to prosecutors, they illegally funneled foreign money into US political campaigns, including a $325,000 contribution to the pro-Trump America First political action committee. Both men have pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors have said repeatedly their investigation is continuing, and Bloomberg and other news organizations have reported that Giuliani is a subject of interest in the case. Zolkind’s comment came after Gerald Lefcourt, one of the defense lawyers, complained that the heavily redacted documents shared by the government in pre-trial exchange of records had left him with little sense of the case. As an example, he held aloft a search warrant affidavit with the pages completely blacked out.
Zolkind said the redacted pages did not relate to the charges filed thus far — an indication that the investigation spans beyond the current case against the two men. The prosecutor didn’t elaborate on what the new accusations would be or whether others would be charged, but he said later that at least one of the defendants, Parnas, is “under investigation for additional crimes.” Zolkind also opposed a request by Parnas for more lenient home detention conditions, saying there’s a risk he would flee because of his ties to Ukraine and a “billionaire oligarch in Vienna” currently fighting extradition to the US.