ABC News: Arrest of Giuliani associates tied to Ukraine scandal renews scrutiny on campaign finance rules

ABC News: Arrest of Giuliani associates tied to Ukraine scandal renews scrutiny on campaign finance rules

"The charges of conspiracy to funnel foreign dollars into U.S. elections against Florida businessmen Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman paint a troubling picture of the free flow of foreign money into our elections due to insufficient safeguards and lax enforcement," Paul S. Ryan, vice president for policy and litigation for Common Cause, another watchdog group, said in a statement. "[Thursday's] indictments, though, likely represent only the tip of the iceberg in terms of foreign meddling. Both men were also heavily involved in the efforts by the White House and President Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate unsubstantiated allegations against Trump's political rival, Joe Biden."

The criminal “dark money” case involving two men with ties to President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has raised more questions about how the presence of foreign money in U.S. elections can enable nefarious actors to take advantage of a political system powered by cash.

The ultimate goal of Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who were charged Thursday with allegedly plotting a complex scheme to circumvent campaign finance laws, by using straw donations to disguise the original source of contributions and exceed donation limits, was “to gain influence with candidates as to policies that would benefit a future business venture,” according to the indictment. …

As foreign actors and governments continue to implement a wide range of tactics to penetrate and hold sway within America’s political landscape, these unsealed charges raise questions about the extent to which individuals with foreign allegiances are leveraging political ties to undermine campaign finance safeguards and gain influence, experts said.

“The charges of conspiracy to funnel foreign dollars into U.S. elections against Florida businessmen Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman paint a troubling picture of the free flow of foreign money into our elections due to insufficient safeguards and lax enforcement,” Paul S. Ryan, vice president for policy and litigation for Common Cause, another watchdog group, said in a statement. “[Thursday’s] indictments, though, likely represent only the tip of the iceberg in terms of foreign meddling.”

“Both men were also heavily involved in the efforts by the White House and President Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate unsubstantiated allegations against Trump’s political rival, Joe Biden,” he added. …

Parnas and Fruman are not the first to allegedly try to buy political influence, and they likely won’t be the last to defy existing rules, experts told ABC News.

But their alleged actions bring new scrutiny on the current campaign finance apparatus and the lawmakers and officials responsible for patrolling it. The entire system operates in relatively new terrain after the blockbuster 2010 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The court’s conservative majority in the case ruled unconstitutional a longstanding federal law prohibiting corporate “independent expenditures” supporting or opposing federal candidates under the First Amendment.

Ryan said the advent of Citizens United, which fueled the rise of super PACs, political actions committees that can accept unlimited donations, unlike candidate committees and regular PACs that are limited, is the main reason the two Florida residents may have been able to easily conceal their identities while contributing to super PACs.

“It was clear in 2010 that disclosure laws on the books would not prevent the sort of corporate, straw-donor scheme at the heart of the Parnas and Fruman indictment unsealed [Thursday],” he noted.