WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th November, 2019) US prosecutors have opened a Federal investigation into whether President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani stood to personally profit from an energy project in Ukraine that two of his associates promoted, local media reported on Friday.
Federal prosecutors in New York are investigating whether Giuliani broke the law in his dealings with two associates - Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman - on a Ukrainian natural gas project, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
During meetings with Ukrainian officials last year Parnas and Fruman pitched the idea of a project to build a natural gas pipeline from Poland to Ukraine, saying Giuliani was a partner in the venture, the report said.
The two businessmen told Ukrainian officials that the Trump administration supported the pipeline project while also pushing them to open a probe into former US Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, the report said.
Parnas and Fruman told the officials Giuliani was either a partner or prospective investor in their company, Global Energy Producers, the report said.
Giuliani, in turn, denied any involvement with the company and its energy projects.
"I have no personal interest in any business in Ukraine, including that business," he told the Wall Street Journal.
Prosecutors are investigating whether Giuliani broke lobbying laws while working on Ukraine issues, the newspaper said. However, Trump's lawyer rejected the accusations, saying he coordinated his efforts with the State Department.
In October, US federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment against Parnas and Fruman and two other businessman - David Correia and Andrey Kukushkin - for funneling $1 million in donations from foreign nationals to unspecified political campaigns in the United States.
The four men are also accused of having donated money to a member of Congress and then pressing the lawmaker to remove or recall the then-US ambassador to Ukraine.
The next hearing on their case is scheduled in New York on December 2.
US House Democrats charge that Trump withheld $400 million in military aid to Ukraine in pressing the nation to investigate Biden's role in halting an investigation of a Ukrainian energy firm that employed Biden's son, Hunter.
Transcripts of closed door testimony released by House investigators earlier in November depict several current and former administration officials describing Giuliani as a back channel running US policy with Ukraine's recently elected President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
