Parnas and Fruman have been charged with making illegal donations to US politicians, including a $325,000 "straw man" contribution from a fake company to American First Action, a group supporting Trump's reelection campaign, according to the newly unsealed indictment.
Berman alleged Parnas and Fruman "broke the law to gain political influence while avoiding disclosure of who was actually making the donations and where the money was coming from".
The contribution was the subject of a complaint by a watchdog group in 2018 to the Federal Election Commission, which regulates and enforces rules on political giving in the US. It is illegal under US law to disguise the source of monetary contributions to US politicians.
Parnas and Fruman were already embroiled in a rapidly expanding
impeachment inquiry by congressional Democrats into Trump and Giuliani's actions in
Ukraine.
House Democrats allege Giuliani conducted a shadow campaign at Trump's direction earlier this year to pressure the then-incoming president of Ukraine
Volodymyr Zelensky to open investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, who had served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company. There has been no evidence of wrongdoing by the Bidens.
