WSJ: Subpoenas Show Prosecutors’ Interest In Giuliani’s Consulting Work

Subpoenas issued to associates of Rudy Giuliani’s indicate that his consulting work has raised red flags for federal prosecutors, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

The feds’ increasing scrutiny of Giuliani’s work has been reported in multiple outlets since Giuliani’s associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, were arrested and charged with a federal conspiracy for allegedly funneling a foreigner’s money into U.S. elections.

But the Journal reported previously unknown specifics, including that subpoenas and other requests for information have named Giuliani Partners, the former New York mayor’s security consulting firm. They’ve also named Fraud Guarantee, a venture, founded by Parnas and a co-indictee, David Correia, that paid Giuliani $500,000 for his services.

Correia, like Parnas and Fruman, has pleaded not guilty.

Since Trump’s election, Giuliani has carved out a curious niche, claiming to represent the President’s interests abroad while working with several wealthy foreigners seeking access to the Trump administration.

The subpoenas indicate that prosecutors are looking into obstruction of justice, money laundering, false statements, and foreign agent registration violations and campaign finance violations, among other potential charges, the Journal reported. Bloomberg News previously reported a similar list of potential charges for Giuliani.

People familiar with the investigation told the Journal that investigators from the Southern District of New York — where Giuliani was once the top prosecutor — and the FBI have also continued asking witnesses about Parnas and Fruman’s business practices. Among other things, investigators sought information about the super PAC America First Action and its sister group, America First Policies.

Parnas and Fruman’s allegedly fraudulent six-figure donation to America Fist Action was among the offenses listed in the criminal complaint against them.

The former New York mayor, who for months has led a hunt for political dirt for President Donald Trump, denied wrongdoing to the Journal and said he hadn’t been contacted by prosecutors.

“All they have to do is come and ask me,” he told the paper. “There’s obviously a concerted effort to spread as many lies about me as possible, to destroy my reputation so that I’m not credible when I continue to reveal all of the massive evidence of criminality by the Bidens.”

Among the more colorful facts uncovered by the Journal Monday is that Fraud Guarantee, Parnas and Correia’s company, hired the right-wing lobbyist and conspiracy theorist Jack Burkman to help apply for a grant from the Obama administration in 2013.

Burkman, who’s since teamed up with the 21-year-old smearmonger Jacob Wohl, told the Journal that he first met Parnas in 2012 and subsequently helped Fraud Guarantee apply for a federal grant for “computer innovation in the role of finance.” The effort was unsuccessful.

Per the the Journal, Parnas even told one potential investor in 2014 that he was headed to Washington, D.C. to meet first lady Michelle Obama. That did not actually occur, an unnamed former White House official told the paper.