10/16/19
A self-described former pro golfer from South Florida who was indicted last week on campaign finance charges was arrested by federal authorities on Wednesday. David Correia, who worked with Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas, is now in federal custody and will be arraigned Thursday before U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken in Manhattan federal court, a Justice Department spokesperson said. Spokespersons for the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan and the FBI confirmed that Correia was arrested Wednesday morning after getting off a flight at JFK Airport. Correia was one of four people, including Parnas, Igor Fruman and Andrey Kukushkin, who allegedly conspired to circumvent federal campaign finance laws by engaging in a scheme to funnel foreign money to candidates for federal and state office so they could buy potential influence with candidates, campaigns, and the candidates’ governments, according to the indictment.
Over the summer, Correia called a New Jersey couple seeking to enforce a $500,000 court judgment against Parnas in Florida over a movie deal gone bad. “He said we no longer knew who we were dealing with and that [they] had ties all the way up to the State Department and the White House and they were partners with Rudy Giuliani,” Dianne Pues recalled in an interview with the Miami Herald. In 2016, Correia and his wife paid $337,000 for a home in Palm Beach Gardens, according to county property records. He has found himself in Palm Beach County courts over several debts, including an eviction action against Fraud Guarantee that ended in a $26,000 judgment against the company owned by Parnas and Correia.
