The Other Ukraine Story: Rudy Giuliani’s Ukraine fixers indicted in US cannabis corruption scheme

Here’s what Leafly have to say

The indictment states that Parnas, Fruman, Correia, and Kukushkin took $1 million from a “Foreign National-1” and “Made plans to form a recreational marijuana business that would be funded by ‘Foreign National-1’ and required gaining access to retail marijuana licenses in particular states, including Nevada.”

This money was transferred to a bank account controlled by Fruman on Sept. 18, 2018, “To cover all the donations whatsoever,” Kukushkin—who was born in Soviet-era Ukraine—later wrote.

Fruman then donated $20,000 to “Candidate-1” and $10,000 to “Candidate-2”—which according to donor records is thought to be Republicans Adam Paul Laxalt and Wesley Karl Duncan, respectively—with the goal of obtaining cannabis licenses.

Two months too late to the game unless we change the rules.

Andrey Kukushkin, Ukraine-born US citizen, in a Justice Department indictment

The defendants had missed the window for applying to a cannabis license in Nevada and sought to influence the candidate who would be making licensing decisions.

Kukushkin told “Foreign National-1” and the trio that they were “Two months too late to the game unless we change the rules,” and that they needed Laxalt to win the seat he was running for “To green light and implement this.”

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Laxalt lost the race for Nevada Governor, and Duncan lost the race for Nevada Attorney General. The indictment states that neither “Candidate-1” or “Candidate-2” knew the donations they received were illegal.

The defendants also had ambitions to obtain licenses in New York and “other states,” however, “The business venture did not come to fruition,” the indictment alleges.

Ukraine connections

According to The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, both Parnas, born in Soviet-era Ukraine, and Fruman, born in Soviet-era Belarus, helped former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani dig up dirt on Vice President Joe Biden in Ukraine. Fox News published a picture of Parnas and Fruman with Donald Trump Jr. The WSJ published a photo of Parnas with Giuliani taken at Trump Hotel Wednesday.

According to the Wall Street Journal, “Since late 2018, Mr. Fruman and Mr. Parnas have introduced Mr. Giuliani to several current and former senior Ukrainian prosecutors to discuss the Biden case, acting as key conduits of information.

“The two had lunch with Mr. Giuliani at the Trump International Hotel in Washington on Wednesday, according to a person who was in the hotel and saw the three together,” according to the article.

Read more at  https://www.leafly.com/news/politics/rudy-giuliani-ukraine-indictment-marijuana

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