By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – A U.S. Court on Monday dismissed charges of campaign finance violations against Andrey Muraviev, a Russian businessman. The case involved Rudy Giuliani’s ex-personal lawyer and two of his associates.

Manhattan federal prosecutors claim Muraviev helped U.S. politicians with Lev Parnas, Igor Fruman and other Giuliani associates. The United States bans foreigners from contributing funds to election campaigns. Muraviev was charged with violating the campaign finance law.

The indictment of Sept. 17, 2020 was previously kept secret. Washington is trying to press President Vladimir Putin into stopping his invading Ukraine by making the Sept. 17, 2020 indictment unsealed.

Muraviev is located in Moscow and could not be reached to comment.

Parnas was convicted in October of six campaign finance offences. Prosecutors claimed that Parnas donated $100,000 to Muraviev in order to support candidates for legal marijuana companies.

Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York said Monday that “Muraviev” tried to undermine our political system in order to further his business interests. He also stated that his office will continue to “root out foreigners trying to influence our elections.”

Fruman previously pleaded guilty for soliciting foreign money to support a U.S. presidential campaign.

Parnas, and Fruman were both born in Ukraine, and Belarus respectively. They are most well-known for their work with Giuliani to investigate Joe Biden before the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election.

Giuliani was also the former mayor of New York City. Giuliani has not been indicted for any criminal offenses and denied any wrongdoing.

Andrey Kukushkin was a Ukrainian-born Californian businessman who collaborated with Muraviev last year. On Monday, his lawyer stated that he wanted to assist the Ukraine war relief efforts rather than serving time in prison.