NEW YORK (AP) — A Florida man wanted in a campaign finance case involving associates of Rudy Giuliani is in federal custody after flying Wednesday to Kennedy Airport in New York City to turn himself in, federal authorities said.
David Correia was named in an indictment with two Giuliani associates and another man who were all arrested last week on charges they made illegal contributions to politicians and a political action committee supporting President Donald Trump. Giuliani, a former New York City mayor, is Trump’s personal lawyer.
Correia, 44, was to make an initial appearance later Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan. There was no immediate response to an email seeking comment from Correia’s lawyer.
Prosecutors said Correia, an American-born businessman who owns a home with his wife in West Palm Beach, was part of efforts by co-defendants Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman to leverage outsized political donations to advance their business interests.
Both Parnas and Fruman — U.S. citizens who were born in Ukraine and Belarus, respectively — have a history of business dealings with Giuliani.
The pair made campaign contributions with the intent of lobbying U.S. politicians to oust the country’s ambassador to Ukraine. At the time, Giuliani was trying to get Ukrainian officials to investigate the son of Trump’s potential Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
Giuliani has said he had no knowledge of illegal donations and hadn’t seen any evidence that Parnas and Fruman did anything wrong.
Correia is accused in a separate scheme of conspiring with the other defendants, including Ukrainian-born U.S. citizen Andrey Kukushkin, to make political donations to local and federal politicians in New York, Nevada and other states with the aim of trying to get support for a new recreational marijuana business.
Correia is listed as the registered agent for a Florida corporation tied to a series of wire transfers that prosecutors allege was part of an elaborate effort to hide the true source of funds used to make the donations.
He posed with then-Rep. Pete Sessions in a 2018 photo taken inside the Texas Republican’s Capitol Hill office that Parnas posted on social media with the caption “Hard at work !!”
The Associated Press reported last week that Sessions fits the description in the indictment of a congressman who prosecutors allege was part of a coordinated effort to remove the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.
At least some of the defendants are expected to appear in court Thursday for an arraignment.
Michael Biesecker reported from Washington.
