What is it about Nevada Republican U.S. Senate candidate Adam Laxalt that attracts unscrupulous would-be pay-to-play schemers like eager moths to a light at dusk?
Last October, Laxalt testified in federal court highlighting his 2018 efforts “bombarding” now-convicted Rudy Giulani associate Lev Parnas for campaign contributions that federal prosecutors constituted illegal “straw” donations.
The alleged money behind Parnas’ effort to illegally buy influence with Laxalt was from Russian businessman Andrew Muraviev, who was yesterday charged with violating federal campaign finance laws “including illegally funneling donations to then-Republican gubernatorial hopeful Adam Laxalt, as part of an effort to win a recreational marijuana business license in Nevada.”
Laxalt has been linked to shady influence-buying efforts and pressure campaigns for years, even before he spent the 2020 election and its ongoing aftermath spreading Trump’s Big Lie.
Read the coverage on the latest indictment in the attempted illegal straw-donor pay-to-play scheme to secure a recreational marijuana license from Adam Laxalt:
Nevada Independent: Russian oligarch indicted in campaign finance plot to win cannabis license in Nevada
- “Russian businessman Andrey Muraviev was charged Monday with violating federal campaign finance laws in 2018, including illegally funneling donations to then-Republican gubernatorial hopeful Adam Laxalt, as part of an effort to win a recreational marijuana business license in Nevada.”
Washington Post: Russian oligarch charged in U.S. campaign finance scheme
- “Prosecutors say Muraviev sent two $500,000 payments that were meant to be infused into campaign coffers for people seeking offices like governor and state attorney general, though Parnas and Fruman allegedly used some of the money to pay bills.”
- “Evidence introduced at Parnas’s trial showed one $10,000 donation in Fruman’s name went to Adam Laxalt, the former attorney general in Nevada, who lost a race for Nevada governor in 2018.”
Las Vegas Review-Journal: Russian oligarch who funneled money to Nevada candidates indicted
- “Laxalt said during the testimony that Parnas eventually promised to donate $10,000 and that he’d raise hundreds of thousands more for the campaign. But Laxalt said that money was slow to come in and that he began to regularly ask when it would come. In the end Laxalt’s campaign only received the $10,000, which Laxalt testified was returned to the U.S. treasury after discussing it with his lawyers.”
- “Prosecutors have said that more than $150,000 of the money Muraviev had sent, which was siphoned through a bank account controlled by Fruman’s brother, ended up being donated to the Republican Adam Laxalt. He was running for governor of Nevada in 2018.”
UPI: Russian oligarch linked to Giuliani associates indicted in donation probe
- “Prosecutors said funds were sent to several Republican campaigns, including those of former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt for his unsuccessful 2018 campaign for governor and $325,000 for Trump’s Super PAC.”
Published: Mar 15, 2022 | Last Modified: Mar 22, 2022