Lev Parnas, a Rudy Giuliani associate with ties to Ukraine, has his ankle bracelet checked by a member of the U.S. Capitol Police during the first impeachment trial of then President Donald Trump in January 2020. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
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Lev Parnas, a key figure in former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment, has begun to serve his 20-month sentence for campaign-finance and wire fraud.
Parnas is currently housed at a minimum-security satellite camp at the federal correctional institution in Otisville, New York. Parnas first appeared in the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ inmate locator in the past couple of week. Parnas’ son Aaron, an attorney and pro-Democrat influencer, confirmed the website’s listing: “He has begun his sentence.”
In October 2021, Parnas, a Ukrainian-American, was convicted of conspiring to make political contributions on behalf of Russian oligarch Andrey Muraviev. In March, Parnas pleaded guilty to participating in a wire fraud conspiracy. Among the beneficiaries was a pro-Trump super PAC.
In August, Parnas and the government came to an agreement that the restitution he owes totals $1.8 million.
In 2020, Parnas claimed that then-President Trump “knew exactly everything that was going on” with his efforts to entice Ukraine to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden. Trump was accused of withholding aid to the country unless it announced a corruption investigation into Biden, which led to Trump’s impeachment and eventual acquittal.
FCI Otisville also housed another person central to Trump’s first impeachment, his former fixer Michael Cohen. In 2021, Cohen sued Trump and officials at the bureau, alleging his return to Otisville after being furloughed during the pandemic, was retaliation for his tell-all book.
Lev Parnas first appeared in the Federal Bureau of Prisons’s inmate locator in the past couple of weeks.
Federal Bureau of Prisons