đź“·: Igor Fruman and Lev Parnas (2nd and 3rd from left) with Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani. Photographer unknown.
Prosecutors with the US attorney's office for the Southern District of New York are considering whether to charge Rudy Giuliani's crimeing buddy Lev Parnas, and at least one of Parnas's business partners, with misleading prospective investors for their appropriately named business entity, 'Fraud Guarantee.'
While serving as Trump's personal lawyer, Giuliani was paid $500,000 by Fraud Guarantee, according to court filings.
The move by SDNY brings the investigation closer to Rudy Giuliani, and to his boss, the impeached and manifestly corrupt U.S. president Donald Trump.
“Parnas co-founded Fraud Guarantee with the idea of providing insurance to companies to protect against fraud,” reports CNN:
[I]nvestigators have focused on the marketing pitch, specifically examining whether the men duped investors about the value of the company and how they intended to use the proceeds, the people familiar with the investigation say.
FBI agents and prosecutors interviewed investors who were pitched on the company, and through subpoenas have obtained text messages and other documents related to the effort. One person with knowledge of the company has said the men spent proceeds from investors on pricey personal expenses.
The new charges, if they are brought, would significantly increase the legal pressure on Parnas and Correia. Those men, plus Igor Fruman, another Parnas business associate, and Andrey Kukushkin, an associate in a marijuana venture, have been charged by Manhattan federal prosecutors with campaign finance violations relating to donations they made to US candidates. All four have pleaded not guilty.
Read more:
Federal prosecutors weigh new charges that bring Lev Parnas investigation closer to Giuliani
[cnn.com, Monday 2/17/2020]
