A former Rudy Giuliani associate convicted of helping funnel money from a Russian oligarch toward a bid to open a marijuana business will be able to enjoy the leafy plant while on probation following a stint in federal prison, a judge ruled Monday.
Manhattan federal judge Paul Oetken granted Lev Parnas’ forthright request that he be allowed to use pot for medical reasons while he serves a three-year term of supervised release.
Parnas, 51, made the request less than a week after he was released from federal custody following a conviction for his part in a conspiracy to illegally steer money from Russian businessmen into political campaigns in states where he and others wanted to open recreational marijuana businesses.
In a letter to the court filed hours before the judge issued his decision on Monday, Parnas’ attorney, Joseph Bondy, explained that the former Soviet-born associate of Giuliani was “a longtime registered patient of medical marijuana in the state of Florida.”
Bondy added that Parnas was given the same leeway to replace him when he is on bail before sentencing in October 2021.
Neither the probation department nor the US Attorney’s office objected to Parnas’ request, Bondy’s letter said.
Rudy Giuliani’s former associate Lev Parnas asked a judge to allow him to use medical marijuana while he is on probation.REUTERS
Parnas was sentenced to 20 months in prison in June 2020 and was released on September 5 after he was sent to an upper medium-security lockup in Otisville, New York, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons.
“Yesterday I was released from BOP custody after completing my sentence,” Parnas wrote last week at X — officially known as Twitter. “It’s been 4 years since I was arrested on October 10, 2019.”
“This trial is very difficult for my wife and children,” the post continued. “We are ready for a new chapter in our lives. Thank you everyone for supporting me in my mission to find the truth!”
Federal prison officials confirmed that Parnas was released from federal lockup on February 28 to a community confinement program in Miami.
Parnas was released from federal custody last week.AP
They did not say whether Parnas had been living in a halfway house or under house arrest after being released from Otisville.
Manhattan federal prosecutors have said that Parnas — who connected Giuliani with Ukrainian contacts to help dig up dirt on Hunter Biden — ran two schemes.
First, he and co-conspirators Igor Fruman, Andrey Kukushkin and Andrey Muraviev allegedly planned to start a business obtaining retail pot licenses. They then tried to curry favor with political candidates by illegally donating to their campaigns in the November 2018 election in the hope that they would help them obtain licenses.
Parnas’ attorney said that he was given permission while he was on bail before trial to use medical pot. AP
The $1 million donation came from Muraviev, a Russian oligarch, who tried to hide that he was the real source of the money.
Parnas only managed to donate $100,000 in illegal campaign cash, prosecutors said.
In the second scheme, for which Parnas pleaded guilty in March 2022, he and David Corriea defrauded a wealthy investor friend out of $2 million to live lavishly, including private jets and luxury hotel stays.
Parnas was ordered to pay $2.3 million in restitution to the people he defrauded.
All the co-defendants, except Muraviev who is still at large, were sentenced to more than a year in prison.
Parnas is cooperating with the first congressional impeachment investigation of former President Donald Trump.
He also blasted his once-convicted friend, Giuliani, telling reporters: “I will continue to seek the truth. There’s a lot more to talk about Rudy Giuliani, the President — the former president, the former Trump man, and everything they do.”
Giuliani – the former mayor of New York City – has since been indicted on criminal charges along with Trump and 17 others for alleged interference in the 2020 Georgia election.
Parnas’ attorney had no comment Monday.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
