Giuliani associate Lev Parnes to plead the Fifth on campaign donations

Lev Parnas, an associate of Rudy Giuliani who was indicted last month on campaign finance charges, reportedly said in a Monday court filing that he would plead the Fifth Amendment in his December court appearance as a means of refusing to answer certain questions about the payments.

Parnas will appear in federal court on Dec. 13 for a hearing that could reportedly take as long as three hours, CNN reports, and he will testify about his campaign donations.

{mosads}But by pleading the Fifth, Parnas is asserting his right not to answer a questions that could be self-incriminating.

The filing — which is part of a civil proceeding due to Parnas’s failure to pay back an investor — comes after a federal judge in Florida last month ordered Parnas to be questioned under oath about the funds.

Lawyers for the family trust, to which Parnas reportedly owes more than $500,000, want to question him under oath “about his assets and the alleged fraudulent transfers,” CNN reports.

But his own attorneys have asked the Florida judge to pause the proceedings while he faces criminal charges in New York.

Parnas and fellow Giuliani associate Igor Fruman were arrested last month on charges of conspiracy, falsification of records and providing false information to the Federal Election Commission. An indictment alleged that the two men funneled foreign money into U.S. elections through a straw donor scheme.

The pair has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to GOP candidates and committees. In May 2018, they gave $325,000 to a pro-Trump super PAC, America First Action, through an LLC called Global Energy Producers.

The indictment also alleges Fruman and Parnas asked a U.S. congressman in 2018 to help call for firing the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. The Trump administration eventually recalled that ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch, in May.