Exclusive: Giuliani was paid $500K by indicted associate's firm

Reuters Videos

Reuters reported exclusively on Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, was paid $500,000 for work he did for a company co-founded by Lev Parnas, the Ukrainian-American businessman arrested last week on campaign finance charges.

That's according to Giuliani himself, who told Reuters that Parnas' company - Florida-based Fraud Guarantee - whose website says it aims to help clients “reduce and mitigate fraud” - hired Giuliani in August of 2018 to consult on Fraud Guarantee’s technologies and provide legal advice.

A law enforcement source said Federal prosecutors are “examining Giuliani’s interactions” with Parnas and another Giuliani associate, Igor Fruman, who was also indicted on campaign finance charges, after the two men were arrested at Dulles Airport with one-way tickets to Europe - accused of funneling foreign money to unnamed U.S. politicians in a bid to influence U.S. relations with Ukraine.

Giuliani told Reuters “I know beyond any doubt the source of the money is not any questionable source,” adding “The money did not come from foreigners."

The former New York City mayor has become a key figure in the impeachment probe into the president, which was sparked by a whistleblower complaint that alleges Trump pressed Ukraine's president to investigate Trump’s political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

For the first time since the impeachment probe began, Hunter Biden defended his overseas work in an interview with ABC News, after facing a barrage of political attacks hurled by Trump, who has for weeks asked "Where's Hunter Biden" at rallies and on his Twitter page.

Trump has accused the younger Biden - without evidence - of using his father's influence to help secure foreign backing for his investments.

In the ABC interview that aired Tuesday, Hunter Biden said he “did nothing wrong at all,” but conceded he may have provided an opening to attacks on his father, who is a leading contender for the Democratic Party nomination to challenge Trump in the 2020 election.