U.S. judge to reconsider house arrest for Giuliani associate charged in Ukraine-linked case

[November 01, 2019]  By Brendan Pierson

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A judge is expected on Friday to consider whether an associate of U.S. President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, should remain under house arrest while he awaits trial on charges of illegally funneling money to a pro-Trump election committee and other politicians.

A lawyer for Igor Fruman, a Belarus-born businessman, is scheduled to appear before U.S. District Judge Paul Oetken in Manhattan to argue that his client should be allowed to move more freely. Fruman, who lives in Florida, is not expected to appear.

Fruman was arrested on Oct. 9 at a Washington-area airport along with another Florida businessman, Ukraine-born Lev Parnas. Authorities said the two were preparing to leave the United States with one-way plane tickets.

Fruman's lawyer, Todd Blanche, said in a court filing on Wednesday that Fruman should not be subject to house arrest or electronic GPS monitoring as conditions of his bail, calling them "onerous."

He argued that Fruman posed no risk of fleeing the country, noting that he had already agreed to post a $1 million bond secured by his home and to have his travel restricted.

Federal prosecutors have accused Parnas and Fruman of using a shell company to donate $325,000 to the pro-Trump committee, America First Action, and of raising money for former U.S. Representative Pete Sessions of Texas as part of an effort to have the president remove the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.

That effort was carried out at the request of at least one Ukrainian official, prosecutors said. Trump ordered the ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch, removed in May.

Igor Fruman arrives for his arraignment at the United States Courthouse in the Manhattan borough of New York City, U.S., October 23, 2019. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz/File Photo

The case is unfolding amid an impeachment inquiry by the Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives, centered on Republican Trump's request in a July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, a contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

Yovanovitch testified in the inquiry that Trump had ousted her from her position based on "unfounded and false claims" after she had come under attack by Giuliani. Giuliani has said Parnas and Fruman helped his efforts in Ukraine to investigate Biden and denies wrongdoing.

Parnas and Fruman are also charged with taking part in a scheme with two other men to funnel money from an unnamed Russian businessman to political candidates in several states to help obtain permits needed for a proposed marijuana business, which never materialized. U.S. law prohibits foreign donations to political campaigns.

Parnas, Fruman and the other two men, Andrey Kukushkin and David Correia, have all pleaded not guilty to the charges.

(Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Grant McCool)

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