WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. John Katko and former Rep. Claudia Tenney received campaign cash from a Soviet-born businessman indicted last week for trying to influence state and federal elections with hidden foreign money.

Katko and Tenney each accepted $2,445.34 from Igor Fruman in 2018, who used the alias Igor “Furman” to make the donations, a violation of election law, according to the indictment and Federal Election Commission records.

The donations were parceled out to Katko, Tenney and 19 other House Republicans through two donations totaling $100,000 that Fruman made through his alias to Protect the House, a joint fundraising committee.

Fruman and his business partner, Lev Parnas, a Ukrainian-born emigre, were arrested Wednesday night at Dulles Airport in Washington as they were about to leave the country with one-way international tickets.

The businessmen were also major donors to President Donald Trump’s campaign and hired Trump’s personal lawyer, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, in 2018 as a consultant. Giuliani has denied having knowledge of any wrongdoing involving the men.

A federal indictment unsealed Thursday said the businessmen made the donations to help their own financial interests and the political interest of at least one unidentified Ukrainian government official.

The businessmen also lobbied an unidentified member of Congress for help ousting the American ambassador to Ukraine at about the same time they agreed to raise money for the congressman, according to the indictment.

Fruman and Parnas leveraged their political donations as part of a broader effort using laundered foreign money to oust the U.S. ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch, at the request of one or more Ukrainians, prosecutors said.

Katko, R-Camillus, never met Fruman or Parnas, nor did he solicit or receive donations directly from either businessman, a campaign spokeswoman said Monday.

When Katko’s campaign became aware of the indictment, he donated the $2,445 from Fruman to the McMahon Ryan Child Advocacy Center in Syracuse.

Tenney plans to donate the $2,445 she received through Fruman to a local charity in the 22nd Congressional District, a campaign spokesman said Monday.

The spokesman said Tenney never met Fruman and did not ask him for a contribution.

Tenney, a Republican from New Hartford, launched a campaign earlier this month to win back the seat she lost to Rep. Anthony Brindisi, D-Utica, in the 2018 election.

Fruman and Parnas also donated $325,000 to a political action committee supporting Trump through an energy company they formed. The indictment said the company had not engaged in any energy business activity, and had no significant income or assets.

Prosecutors alleged in the indictment that the men hid the true source of the money, a private lending transaction between Fruman and unidentified third parties.

Contact Mark Weiner: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751

Thanks for visiting Syracuse.com. Quality local journalism has never been more important, and your subscription matters. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work.