Lawyer for Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas asks to withdraw, cites ebbing defense funds

Kevin McCoy | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas: 'I'll be vindicated' Two associates of Rudy Giuliani were arraigned Wednesday on charges they used straw donors to make illegal campaign contributions to politicians and committees to advance their business interests. (Oct. 23)

NEW YORK – An attorney for indicted Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas asked to withdraw from the defendant's campaign finance conspiracy case.

Defense lawyer Edward MacMahon filed a withdrawal request on Christmas Eve in Manhattan federal court that said Parnas' "apparent ability to fund his defense has diminished."

"It thus would constitute a significant hardship for Mr. Parnas to continue being represented by two attorneys in this matter," MacMahon wrote.

New York City defense lawyer Joseph Bondy will continue to represent Parnas in the case if U.S. District Court Judge Paul Oetken approves the withdrawal request. Similar motions are routinely granted.

Parnas and his associate Igor Fruman were indicted in October on charges they conspired to surreptitiously funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars in foreign money to U.S. political candidates and campaign committees. Evidence in the case includes $325,000 allegedly contributed under a false donor name to a super political action committee for Donald Trump, whose personal attorney is Giuliani.

Co-defendants David Correia and Andrey Kukushkin are charged with contributing foreign funds to candidates in Nevada and other states in a bid to win support for a planned cannabis business.

The four men pleaded not guilty.

Parnas and Fruman helped Giuliani as he sought damaging information in Ukraine and elsewhere in Europe about the family of former Vice President Joe Biden – who's vying for the Democratic nomination to challenge Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

House lawmakers conducting the impeachment investigation against Trump subpoenaed Parnas and Fruman after they learned of Giuliani's drive to oust Marie Yovanovitch, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. After Trump complained about Yovanovitch, the U.S. Department of State recalled the veteran diplomat from her post in May. Parnas and Fruman initially refused to comply with the subpoenas.

Parnas subsequently agreed to cooperate, turning over documents and signaling, through Bondy, his willingness to testify if granted immunity from the criminal charges in the campaign conspiracy case.

Trump denied that he knew Parnas and Fruman despite photos that showed the two men with him.

MacMahon's bid to withdraw from the defense team came days after Bondy and Manhattan federal prosecutors exchanged legal arguments about the status of Parnas' financial affairs and the decision that allowed him to remain under home detention while awaiting trial.

Trump denies knowing men charged with campaign finance violations President Donald Trump says he doesn't know the two men associated with his personal lawyer.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York argued that Parnas' $1 million bail bond should be revoked because he had access to seemingly unlimited foreign funding. As proof, prosecutors cited $1 million in loans to Parnas and his wife, Svetlana, from Ralph Oswald Isenegger, an attorney for indicted Ukrainian oligarch Dmitry Firtash.

Firtash is in Austria, battling extradition to Chicago federal court over charges he used the U.S. financial system to bribe Indian officials for titanium mining licenses. Firtash pleaded not guilty.

Isenegger said the loan came from his own money, not funding from Firtash or other clients, according to Reuters.

Financial records Bondy filed in court Dec. 20 showed that Parnas and his wife had burned through all but roughly $95,000 of the loans as of late November, and major chunks of the funds went to secure Parnas' release bond and to a down payment on a since-aborted plan to buy a Florida home.

Bondy argued that Parnas intends to defend himself at trial and had no reason or means to flee the USA.

Oetken agreed to allow Parnas to remain under home detention, with 24-hour global position system monitoring. He's banned from going outside for anything other than lawyer meetings, medical appointments and religious observances. The judge denied Bondy's request to ease those restrictions.