Thread by @innercitypress

OK - Lev Parnas is up for revocation of bail @SDNYLIVE before Judge Oetken. Previous Inner City Press story: innercitypress.com/sdny6correiafr… AUSA says he poses an extreme risk of flight - thread

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 AUSA: Parnas has a foreign benefactor, a Ukrainian oligarch -
Judge Oetken: Is that Mr Furtash?
AUSA: Yes. Parnas has no compunction about lying to the government about the true sources of his funds. GPS monitoring cannot mitigate the risk.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 AUSA: He could cut off his bracelet. Pre-Trial if they got notice would go to his house, not to the airport.
[Inner City Press: why not?]
AUSA: We've seen a pattern of misleading. I know your Honor has spoken with officer Samson.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 AUSA: We believe Parnas was preparing to flee. He has no issue with lying to Pre-Trial. He also misleads about his assets. He lied about income from the law firm. He submitted an affidavit. I can hand it up -
Judge Oetken: yes, please

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 AUSA Donaleski: Parnas does not disclose the loan his wife received. Defense said Parnas still needed access to some information listened in the affidavit. People of course know who they work for. He told Pre-Trial in Virginia about the law firm. Then omitted

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 Judge Oetken: The form asks, Your employer. Would you list a former employer?
AUSA Donaleski: Parnas was still receiving income from the law firm. They are his employer. There is no reason he would tell pre-trial but omit from sworn affidavit to the government.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 AUSA Donaleski: Let's turn to assets. The form asks, what assets do you have. Mrs Parnas lives with him. The money she has comes from him. But all he disclosed was a Suntrust account of his wife, for $450,000, a student account, and another with $2000.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 AUSA Donaleski: So it came to $500,000. We consented to lowering the bond to $200,000.
Judge Oetken: This October 17 email correspondence, did it mention the $1 million loan from a foreign source?
AUSA: It did not.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 AUSA: The next day, October 18, Mr Bondy gave slightly more information that I understand he has provided to the court for today.
Judge Oetken: But he did disclose the $1 million wire transfer.
AUSA: Only after we has consent to lower bail package.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 AUSA: Then Parnas did not disclose the wire transfer, the law firm, or that he had bought a house.
Judge Oetken: Wasn't it apparent then to the government that he was not reporting his wife's income as his own.
AUSA: It wasn't yet clear to us.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 AUSA: We only recently received the records from SunTrust.
[Inner City Press: Isn't this now called "Truist" - ironically - with a merger just approved by the Federal Reserve and FDIC? #AML]
AUSA: There's Parnas bragging he was the highest paid translator

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 AUSA: Then Svetlana Parnas signed a deal for a $4.5 million house.
Judge Oetken: But wasn't that disclosed?
AUSA: They disclosed they were unsure they were buying a house. But it wasn't on the financial affidavit.
Judge Oetken: Okay.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 Judge Oetken: Do you know the status of the house purchase?
AUSA Donaleski: We learned last night it was sold to another party & that the $200,000 remains in escrow. In our investigation we find Russian funds are papered over as loans - tax free, evading scrutiny

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 AUSA Donaleski: The fact they he specifically omitted these things is troubling --
Judge Oetken: What on the form requires disclosure of possible home purchase, or $200,000 in escrow?
AUSA: He also didn't disclose his income from the law firm, and the loan.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 Judge Oetken: Have you learned another else that you can share?
AUSA Donaleski: Just a moment... That is was a loan to his wife is not credible.
Judge Oetken: I'll hear from Mister Bondy.
Bondy: He won a lottery to come to the US and went to PS 3 in Brooklyn

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 Bondy: Parnas is a proud citizen of the USA. I started this on Dec 2 asking you if Mr Parnas could have a few hours out of the house. The court properly asked me to seek the position of Pre-Trial. Mr Parnas asked Officer Samson. There was nothing deceptive

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 Bondy: Parnas' trips to Ukraine were almost always with Mr. Giuliani, or with the law firm. Parnas wants to get that information to Congress. If he were to go anywhere, it would be to Washington DC

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 Bondy: We have the government here, and Congress there. But I don't control the ability of someone to be called as a witness. I have to deal with is Fifth Amendment rights here. There, it's about immunity.
Judge Oetken: Let's get to the good stuff.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 Bondy: Let's start with the SunTrust bank records. Ms. Donaleski asks us for two months of Svetlana's bank records. And the government had the information two days before it made its bail package. It was never hidden.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 Judge Oetken: So there was five wires of $200,000 each. And no indication as to the source of the funds.
Bondy: If they'd asked, they would have been told. Ms Parnas as the signator on the house. The $200,000 is unreleaseable. It was a hard money deposit.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 Bondy: There was an email chain from this gentleman to Ms. Parnas. It was a loosely papered loan. The lawyer is Swiss, not Ukrainian. He writes she is a nice lady and he will lend her money. When I tried to look into it, he contacted Ms Parnas and pulled the loan

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 Judge Oetken: But they haven't returned the money, right?
Bondy: I only got the request last night. They now have in that account about $94,000.
Judge Oetken: Isn't it suspicious they got a $1 million loan and now have only $94,000?

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 Judge Oetken: I know you are an expensive lawyer, but not that expensive.
Bondy: There was the $200,000 hard money deposit. And my $100,000 fee.
Since then, Parnas can't speak with co-defendant Correia, who did much of his bookkeeping and secretarial.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 Bondy: Here is a letter in which their accounting firm fires the Parnes'... Parnas had a four month contract with the law firm.

[As he speaks, AUSAs Donaleski and Roos whisper to each other; Zolkind stares straight ahead to Judge Oetken.]

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 Bondy: I told Pre-Trial that Parnas would stay away from boat slips, as Donaleski requested--
Judge Oetken: I think it was Mr. Zolkind, not Ms. Donaleski.
Bondy: OK. Next I heard I was on my way to a professional conference and suddenly I hear from the government

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 Judge Oetken: I spoke with Pre-Trial Officer Samson on December 13 and he said, as the government does, that he led him to believe that I had encourage the loosening of conditions. I'm not relying on that, might have been spin. But be careful.
Bondy: I was careful

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 Judge Oetken: I'm going to take a brief break, but I'd like to see if the government has anything. Oh, Mr. Bondy, were you done?
Bondy: No. I have a few points.
Judge Oetken: Go ahead and make them.
Bondy: There's no mandatory minimum in this case.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 Bondy: Mr Parnas, unlike some even in the government, wants to provide information. And that would be relevant at sentencing, if there ever is a conviction.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 Bondy: The other cases they cite, I don't know if people who are cutting their GPS bracelets and going to the Dominican Republic have contacts here like Mr Parnas does
[Hmm....]
I renew my request the court grants Parnas the ability to be outside

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 Bondy: We saw Mr. Fruman & his wife at a baseball game over Thanksgiving, risk of flight?
[Baseball on Thanksgiving?]
Donaleski: Even if house under name of his wife, it's his property [too?] It was omitted from his affidavit.
Judge Oetken: They didn't own it yet

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 AUSA Donaleski: We're heard he's hired armed security to take his kids to school. Who's paying for that? He might flee if there's a superseding indictment.
Bondy: There's an oligarch in Ukraine who threatens Parnas. Parnas filed a criminal complaint against him.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 Judge Oetken: What's the timing of the complaint Parnas filed in Ukraine against the oligarch?
Bondy: Recent. And Giuliani tweeted about it, a threat to two American citizens.
Judge Oetken: OK, I'm going to take a five minute break. Thread will continue.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 Judge Oetken is back. He says, It's relevant that the government did agree to the bond in October. That is a baseline. Given that the government agreed at that time. I should be focused on what's different now than then.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 Judge Oetken: What's different from October? Alleged misstatements on financial disclosures. When you focus on them, I find that they are not obvious misstatement. There are explanations. For example the law firm - it was a four month stint.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 Judge Oetken: Assets of his wife? I don't know that that's a clear and intentional misstatement. And that the $1 million came from a foreign source, I'm not sure that makes the difference. It might have violated the spirit, but does not warrant revocation of bail

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @FinanceWatchOrg @yashar @kylegriffin1 Judge Oetken: He has complied with Pre-Trial Services. Requests on both sides, denied. Anything further?
AUSA: Not from the government
Bondy: No your honor
Judge Oetken: We are adjourned.

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