Russian oligarch charged with illegal campaign donations to Trump PAC and Texas Rep. Pete Sessions

A Russian tycoon who federal authorities say funneled illegal foreign donations to a Texas congressman and Donald Trump’s political action committee was secretly charged with conspiracy, the Justice Department revealed Monday. The September 2020 indictment of oligarch Andrey Muraviev had remained secret until now, though prosecutors had previously identified him as the true source of $5,400 donated to Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Waco, and other illegal donations. Two Soviet-born associates of Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, have been convicted of violating campaign finance law by acting as straw men for a foreign donor. Both were involved in Giuliani’s unsuccessful efforts to get Ukrainian officials to investigate President Joe Biden’s son during the 2020 campaign.

Fruman pleaded guilty in September to violating a ban on donations from a foreign national. In January he was sentenced to a year and a day in prison. Parnas was convicted in October and awaits sentencing. Sessions’ former chief of staff, Caroline Boothe, testified at Parnas’ trial that she and the congressman had no idea the donations from the duo were illegal, and would certainly have rejected any donation they knew was from a foreigner or straw man. Prosecutors told a judge in Manhattan federal court Monday that Muraviev is believed to be in Russia. The newly unsealed indictment alleges that he wired $1 million to Fruman and Parnas with the aim of boosting his chances to secure licenses for legal marijuana businesses. Muraviev “attempted to influence the 2018 elections by conspiring to push a million dollars of his foreign funds to candidates and campaigns. He attempted to corrupt our political system to advance his business interests,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams announcing the indictment.