Judge: Giuliani pal can’t pay travel tab, taxpayers on hook

NEW YORK (AP) — A judge has ruled a Rudy Giuliani associate facing trial next week in New York City for allegedly making illegal campaign contributions to U.S. politicians is too poor to pay his own lodging and transportation. Judge J. Paul Oetken ordered taxpayers to pick up the tab for Lev Parnas’ hotel room and instructed the U.S. Marshals Service to have him in New York for the Oct. 12 trial. Parnas is a Soviet-born Florida businessman who with Ukraine-born investor Andrey Kukushkin are accused of scheming to make illegal campaign donations to politicians in New York, Nevada and elsewhere seeking support for a new recreational marijuana business.