Lev Parnas, a former Giuliani ally, convicted on campaign finance charges

(Image credit: Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images)

published 23 October 2021

Former Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas was convicted Friday of illegally funneling money to U.S. political campaigns to gain influence and bolster a marijuana business.

The Soviet-born Parnas and his co-conspirator, Andrey Kukushkin, tried to "manipulate the United States political system for their own financial gain," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said. Kukushkin also was convicted. The men directed money to American politicians during the 2018 midterms aiming to increase the marijuana business' profits, Williams said.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.