Giuliani associate Parnas attempted to hide $1 million payment from Russia, allege prosecutors

That's going to complicate Parnas's heavily telegraphed desire to cooperate with Congress in exchange for leniency

In a should-have-been-predicted new twist, U.S. prosecutors revealed to a federal court today that Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas received a $1 million payment he received from Russia just one month before being indicted for funneling foreign cash to U.S. political campaigns—and attempted to hide that payment even after his arrest.

Arguing Parnas poses an "extreme" risk of flight that is "only compounded" by his continued willingness to lie to the government, prosecutors have asked the judge to revoke Parnas' bail and return him to jail. Parnas is currently under house arrest; government prosecutors filed their motion in response to a Parnas request that the court allow him to leave his house during work hours.

"[T]here is no set of conditions that will reasonably ensure his appearance and compliance with the terms of his release," say prosecutors. They also note that Parnas is being investigated for, and is "likely" to be charged with, additional federal crimes.

Parnas' $1 million payment came as Trump, with the assistance of Giuliani and Giuliani's team of Ukrainian associates, was attempting to extort the Ukrainian government into announcing an "investigation" of presidential rival Joe Biden based on information peddled by disgraced and known-corrupt ex-Ukrainian officials seeking their own return to power. Trump's 2016 campaign head, Paul Manafort, is currently in prison for lying to investigators after the revelation of $2.4 million in secret payments from pro-Russian Ukrainians; it's beginning to look like Giuliani's team picked up almost exactly where Manafort left off.