War yields softer sentence in illegal campaign donation case

NEW YORK (AP) — A Ukraine-born businessman was sentenced Tuesday to a year and a day in prison for his conviction in a conspiracy that enabled a Russian tycoon to make illegal donations to U.S. political candidates with help from two associates of Rudy Giuliani.

Andrey Kukushkin, 49, was sentenced in Manhattan federal court by Judge J. Paul Oetken, who said Kukushkin deserved leniency from federal sentencing guidelines that recommended he spend four to five years behind bars.

The judge cited the war in Ukraine and the “terrible emotional difficulties” resulting from it, along with unusual personal circumstances for Kukushkin, including severe medical issues facing Kukushkin's parents.

He also fined Kukushkin $10,000 for his conviction on charges of conspiring to make illegal foreign contributions and aiding and abetting.

Prior to the sentence being revealed, Kukushkin, wiping away tears, portrayed himself as a victim of bad decisions by others, telling the judge he had made the “colossal mistake of trusting people.”

Kukushkin, who moved to the U.S. in the 1990s, was convicted at a fall trial by a jury that also convicted Lev Parnas, who awaits sentencing.

Parnas and Igor Fruman, who pleaded guilty to a single charge prior to trial and was sentenced to a year in prison, aided Giuliani’s efforts to get Ukrainian officials to investigate Joe Biden’s son during Biden’s campaign for president.

Giuliani is under criminal investigation as authorities decide whether his interactions with Ukraine officials required him to register as a foreign agent, but he wasn’t alleged to have been involved in illegal campaign contributions and wasn’t part of the trial of Kukushkin and Parnas.

On Monday, prosecutors revealed that the Russian tycoon — Andrey Muraviev — was secretly indicted...