Andrii Derkach, a Ukrainian member of parliament who the Trump administration accused of being “an active Russian agent for over a decade,” allegedly used a shell corporation to hide his ownership of the condos and move the $4 million used to buy them, according to a criminal complaint.
“While participating in a scripted Russian disinformation campaign seeking to undermine U.S. institutions, Derkach simultaneously conspired to fraudulently benefit from a Western lifestyle for himself and his family in the United States,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Driscoll said in a press release accompanying the charges.
The Trump administration sanctioned Derkach shortly before the 2020 election on the grounds that he was “an active Russian agent for over a decade” who had “waged a covert influence campaign centered on cultivating false and unsubstantiated narratives” to influence the presidential election.
Derkach featured prominently in efforts by Rudy Giuliani to spread bogus conspiracy theories that former Vice President Joe Biden pressuring Ukraine to commit to anti-corruption measures was a secret plot to quash a criminal investigation of Burisma, a Ukrainian company where Biden’s son, Hunter, served as a board member.
The Justice Department has charged Andrii Derkach, who fed Rudy Giuliani bogus dirt on the Biden family, with money laundering.
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