Lev Parnas set to plead guilty in Fraud Guarantee case: Reuters

• Former Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas is changing his plea, according to Reuters.
• Parnas will plead guilty to a conspiracy charge in connection to his work for Fraud Guarantee.

Lev Parnas, the former Rudy Giuliani associate, will plead guilty to conspiracy charges after previously pleading not guilty, according to Reuters.

Prosecutors accused Parnas and his co-defendant, David Correia, of misleading investors and withdrawing donations to Fraud Guarantee for personal use as well as political donations. The donations reached more than $2 million.

In November 2020, Parnas pleaded not guilty to the conspiracy charges, which also involve alleged wire fraud.

He requested a change-of-plea hearing from US District Judge Paul Oetken in Manhattan on Thursday, Reuters reported.

Parnas, along with another former Giuliani associate, Igor Fruman, were also entangled in an illegal straw donation scheme seeking to disguise $1 million in campaign donations. Fruman and Lev Parnas were running interference for Andrey Muraviev, a Russian businessman, who was trying to get into the US marijuana industry. In January, Fruman was sentenced to one year in prison for helping a foreign national donate to US politicians.

Parnas and Fruman are both Ukrainian-born businessmen with connections to former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, who was pardoned by the former president in December 2020. Manafort also received secret payments from former pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

In October 2021, Parnas was convicted on six campaign finance-related charges in the same case involving Fruman and Correia.