Lawyer for Giuliani associate to step down, citing client’s financial ‘hardship’

One of the two attorneys for Lev Parnas, an associate of President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, filed a request to step down from his client’s case, citing Parnas’s inability to pay both of his lawyers, Reuters reported Wednesday. 

The requested withdrawal was reportedly made in a filing on Tuesday, Christmas Eve, and was confirmed by Parnas’s other lawyer Joseph Bondy on Twitter. 

“Since I entered my appearance, Mr. Parnas’ apparent ability to fund his defense has diminished,” attorney Edward MacMahon Jr. said in a filing with the federal court in Manhattan, according to Reuters. 

“It thus would constitute a significant hardship for Mr. Parnas to continue being represented by two attorneys in this matter,” MacMahon reportedly said in the filing. 

MacMahon said Parnas agreed to the request, according to Reuters. 

Bondy will continue representing Parnas, Retuers reported, citing the filing. 

“This was a decision made in Mr. Parnas’s and Mr. MacMahon’s best interests,” Bondy tweeted Tuesday. “The legal strategy has not changed, and Mr. Parnas remains firmly committed to providing his evidence and testimony to Congress.”

Parnas and fellow Giuliani associate Igor Fruman were arrested in October. They are accused of illegally funneling money to Republican committees. Both have pleaded not guilty. 

Giuliani has also said that Parnas and Fruman aided him in his efforts to get Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, one of President Trump’s political rivals.

The investigations into Biden are central to Trump’s impeachment, which the House voted on earlier this month. The Senate will likely hold an impeachment trial early next year, though the details have not yet been decided.