A Florida man who helped Rudy Giuliani seek damaging information against Joe Biden in Ukraine was sentenced to a year and a day in prison and fined $10,000 Friday in an unrelated campaign finance case.
Igor Fruman was told to report to the prison on March 14. He pleaded guilty in September to a single charge of solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national.
As part of the plea, he admitted that he solicited million dollars from a Russian entrepreneur, Andrey Muraviev, to donate to Republicans in Nevada, Florida and other states as part of an effort to launch a recreational marijuana business.
Federal prosecutors in New York had urged Judge J. Paul Oetken to sentence Fruman to between three and four years in prison. Defense lawyers had argued that he should not be incarcerated because he has otherwise led a law-abiding life.
Oetken said that the crime of soliciting foreign money for U.S. political campaigns was serious and deserves incarceration.
He said it undermines the integrity of elections in our country. Fruman, 55, the father of four children, told the judge he had reflected on his crime.
It's a shame that will live with me forever, he said, through a white face mask, as several family members watched from wooden benches in an area for spectators.
Assistant U.S. attorney Hagan Scotten urged a sentence of at least three years behind bars, saying the crime had caused incalculable damage because it hurts the trust the public has in U.S. elections.
He said that all the things they fear are happening with politicians are happening.
Scotten said the crime is a serious cause of serious damage to the integrity of the electoral system. Defense lawyer Todd Blanche said his client had suffered from eight days in jail after his arrest, two years and four months of home incarceration.
He said that's punishment enough in your honor.
Fruman was charged with helping to ruin Biden's bid for the presidency on the Democratic ticket, along with Lev Parnas, another Florida businessman.
The two served as liaisons between Giuliani and Ukrainian officials and business tycoons as the former New York City mayor tried to persuade prosecutors in that country to investigate Biden's son Hunter, who worked for an energy company.
The U.S. prosecutors haven't brought any charges in connection with the Ukrainian influence campaign, which was the subject of one of the former President Donald Trump's impeachment trials, but focused instead on donations that Fruman and Parnas made to U.S. politicians as they tried to build influence in Republican political circles.
Parnas was convicted in October of campaign finance crimes and is on the waiting list for sentencing.
Florida Gov. was among the politicians who received illegal donations. Ron DeSantis and the former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt said they were unaware that the money came from a foreign source.
Muraviev was not charged in the case.
Giuliani, who worked for Trump as a personal attorney, faces a continuing investigation into whether he was required to register as an agent of a foreign government during his dealings with Ukraine authorities.
The inquiry is looking into whether Giuliani offered to lobby or influence the Trump administration on behalf of Ukrainian figures. Giuliani said everything he did in Ukraine was done on Trump's behalf and there is no reason he would have to register as a foreign agent.
After raids on Giuliani's home and business last year, former federal judge Barbara Jones was appointed by a judge to determine what materials on electronic devices seized in the raid can be turned over to criminal prosecutors.
Jones said a number of dozen items among tens of thousands of communications have been prevented from being handed over to prosecutors because they contain privileged communications in a four-sided report released Friday. She said she was awaiting further assignments.