By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A Ukraine-born U.S. businessman was sentenced to one year and one day in prison on Tuesday after being convicted last year of campaign finance violations alongside a former associate of Rudy Giuliani.
Prosecutors had sought a sentence of 51 to 63 months for Andrey Kukushkin, who was found guilty in October of funneling money from Russian tycoon Andrey Muraviev to U.S. political candidates who could help a fledgling cannabis company he was building with Lev Parnas, the Giuliani associate.
Kukushkin’s lawyers had sought a non-prison punishment for the two campaign finance counts on which their California-based client was convicted.
On Monday, his lawyer Gerald Lefcourt proposed that Kukushkin assist with relief efforts for the war in his native Ukraine and attend business ethics counseling.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan on Monday unsealed charges against Muraviev for his alleged role in the campaign finance scheme.
Washington has been targeting wealthy Russian businessmen with possible sanctions, asset seizures and criminal charges to pressure the Kremlin to stop its invasion of Ukraine. Russia calls its actions a “special operation.”
Muraviev is believed to be in Russia, prosecutors said.
Parnas, also born in Ukraine, was found guilty on all six counts of campaign finance violations he faced during the October trial, and is awaiting sentencing.
Another co-conspirator, Belarus-born Igor Fruman, pleaded guilty to one count of campaign finance violations, and was sentenced in January to one year and one day in prison.
Parnas and Fruman are known for helping Giuliani, Republican former President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, investigate Democrat Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
Giuliani, also a former New York City mayor, has not been charged with any crimes and has denied wrongdoing.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
