Giuliani Ally Igor Fruman Pleads Guilty to Soliciting Foreign Campaign Contributions
CHANGE OF PLEA
Igor Fruman, who has been tied to former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani for an attempt to dig up dirt in Ukraine to damage Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 presidential campaign, pleaded guilty Friday to soliciting campaign contributions from a foreign national. The change-of-plea hearing comes almost two years after he was charged in connection with funneling foreign money into U.S. political campaigns.
Fruman and his business associate Lev Parnas, who is a co-defendant in the case, had helped Giuliani when he was seeking to damage Biden by digging for information on Biden’s son Hunter that would ultimately boost former President Trump. In New York federal court on Friday, Fruman pleaded guilty to just one count related to soliciting U.S. campaign contributions from a foreign national after he was initially charged with 10 crimes. Giuliani is also facing a separate criminal investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and has denied any wrongdoing.