Indicted businessman’s firm paid Giuliani $686k
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Mr Rudy Giuliani, was paid US$500,000 (S$686,000) for work he did for a company co-founded by the Ukrainian-American businessman arrested last week on campaign finance charges.
The businessman, Lev Parnas, is a close associate of Mr Giuliani's and was involved in his effort to investigate Mr Trump's political rival, former Vice-President Joe Biden.
Mr Giuliani said Parnas' company, Boca Raton-based Fraud Guarantee, whose website says it aims to help clients "reduce and mitigate fraud", engaged Giuliani Partners around August last year.
Mr Giuliani said he was hired to consult on Fraud Guarantee's technologies and provide legal advice on regulatory issues.
Federal prosecutors are "examining Giuliani's interactions" with Parnas and another associate, Igor Fruman, who was also indicted on campaign finance charges, said a law enforcement source.
The New York Times reported last week that Parnas had told associates he paid Mr Giuliani hundreds of thousands of dollars for what Mr Giuliani said was business and legal advice. Mr Giuliani said for the first time on Monday that the total amount was US$500,000.
Parnas and Fruman were arrested at Dulles Airport outside Washington last week on charges they funnelled foreign money to unnamed US politicians in a bid to influence US-Ukraine relations in violation of US campaign finance laws.
Mr Giuliani said he was confident that the money he received was from "a domestic source", but he would not say where it came from.
"I know beyond any doubt the source of the money is not any questionable source," he said. - REUTERS
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