Giuliani associate Lev Parnas found guilty on campaign finance charges

A federal jury in Manhattan unanimously found Lev Parnas, a businessman and associate of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, guilty of six counts related to campaign finance violations.

Parnas, 49, was convicted of “influence buying” schemes involving money from Russian backers that he and others used to curry favor with U.S. politicians to promote a cannabis venture. He was also found guilty on one count of lying to the Federal Election Commission about how he channeled funds to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and other Republican causes. Andrey Kukushkin, another associate, was also convicted on two of the charges.