Rudy Giuliani's shady business dealings in Ukraine with Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman of “Mafia Rave” and “Fraud Guarantee” fame are the subject of an ongoing investigation by federal prosecutors in New York.
Associates of Trump's longtime ally and former personal attorney told others that Giuliani stood to profit from a natural gas project pitched alongside campaign for investigations of Joe Biden, reports Rebecca Davis O’Brien in the Wall Street Journal.
Investigators want to know if Giuliani would have personally profited from the Ukrainian natural-gas business pushed by Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman. The Russian-born operatives, who are now in U.S. custody, were at the time helping with Rudy's efforts to dig up political dirt that could help Trump in the 2020 re-election campaign, the WSJ reports.
Mr. Giuliani’s associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, pitched their new company, and plans for a Poland-to-Ukraine pipeline carrying U.S. natural gas, in meetings with Ukrainian officials and energy executives this year, saying the project had the support of the Trump administration, according to people briefed on the meetings. In many of the same meetings, the two men also pushed for assistance on investigations into Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and alleged interference by Ukraine in the 2016 U.S. election, some of the people said.
In conversations that continued into this summer, Messrs. Parnas and Fruman told Ukrainian officials and others that Mr. Giuliani was a partner in the pipeline venture, which was a project of their company, Global Energy Producers, one of the people said. Another person said the men considered Mr. Giuliani a prospective investor in their company more broadly, but said the pitch was unsophisticated and exaggerated.
For his part, Giuliani today denied any involvement in the energy company or the pipeline pitch on Friday.
“I have no personal interest in any business in Ukraine, including that business,” Mr. Giuliani said, adding that he had no indication if prosecutors were looking into the matter. “If they really want to know if I’m a partner, why don’t they ask me?”
I don't doubt they will.
Read the full story:
Federal Prosecutors Probe Giuliani’s Links to Ukrainian Energy Projects
PHOTO: Rudy Giuliani with Lev Parnas, Igor Fruman, third 'unnamed associate'.
