washingtonpost.com
Fourth defendant in Giuliani associates’ case arrested at New York airport
Devlin Barrett
3 minutes
David Correia, the fourth defendant in a campaign finance case involving business associates of President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani, was arrested Wednesday morning at a New York City airport, officials said.
Correia has been charged with participating in a scheme to use foreign money to build political support for a fledgling recreational marijuana business in Nevada and other states, according to an indictment unsealed last week that also charged Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman with making false statements to election regulators and conspiracy.
The other three defendants were quickly arrested by the FBI, but Correia’s whereabouts have been unclear until Wednesday morning. All four defendants are due to appear in federal court Thursday morning.
“The defendant was taken into custody by the FBI at JFK earlier this morning,” said Nicholas Biase, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan.
This Facebook screen shot provided by The Campaign Legal Center, shows in the left photo, Lev Parnas, left, with former Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas). In the right photo from left are Parnas, Sessions and David Correia. (N/A/AP)
It was not immediately clear if Correia was arriving at the airport or planning to fly somewhere else.
Parnas and Furman, who had been helping Giuliani investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, were arrested a week ago at Dulles International Airport outside of Washington, D.C., where they had one-way tickets on a flight out of the country, officials said.
Giuliani’s business dealings with the men are part of the federal investigation, according to people familiar with the matter. A grand jury subpoena has been issued to former congressman Pete Sessions, a Texas Republican, who interacted with Giuliani, Parnas and Fruman.
Giuliani and Sessions have denied wrongdoing. Parnas and Fruman have not formally entered pleas yet to the charges.
The arrests mark the first criminal charges to emerge from the U.S. government’s suddenly controversial relationship with Ukraine — a complex web of financial and political interactions linking diplomacy to alleged violations of campaign finance law.
The indictment does not allege any wrongdoing by the president or his campaign, but the charges of political donations made for the secret benefit of foreign interests adds to the growing legal and political pressure on Trump and his attorney as they try to fend off Democrats’ impeachment efforts.