War yields softer sentence in illegal campaign donation case

By LARRY NEUMEISTER
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A Ukraine-born businessman has been sentenced to a year in prison for his conviction in a conspiracy that enabled a Russian tycoon to make donations to U.S. political candidates. Andrey Kukushkin was sentenced Tuesday by Judge J. Paul Oetken in Manhattan federal court. The judge said Kukushkin deserved leniency from federal sentencing guidelines that called for him to spend four to five years behind bars. The judge cited the war in Ukraine and the “terrible emotional difficulties” resulting from it. Kukushkin was convicted at a fall trial. On Monday, prosecutors revealed that the Russian tycoon was secretly indicted in the case in 2020.