Giuliani's associates slapped with new 'Fraud Guarantee' charges, bringing case closer to ex-mayor
NEW YORK — Lev Parnas and David Correia, two of Rudy Giuliani’s associates, were slapped with new charges in Manhattan Federal Court alleging they used more than $2 million of Fraud Guarantee investors’ money on personal expenses while promising the money would only be spent on the business. Fraud Guarantee is an insurance company founded by Parnas and Correia.
Parnas, a Ukraine-born businessman living in Florida, allegedly spent some of the money on his home and luxury cars.
Giuliani, who is reportedly under investigation in connection with the case but has not been charged, was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by Fraud Guarantee for legal and business advice, according to an Oct. 2019 article by The New York Times.
The indictment claims that a victim of the Fraud Guarantee scam invested in the company by transmitting $500,000 to a consulting company Parnas and Correia had retained.
That consulting business, according to a source close to the case, was Giuliani Partners.
“Where is the Rudy case?” Parnas’s attorney Joseph Bondy asked. “Lev Parnas has been on strict home confinement for nearly one year, waiting for this superseding indictment, which contains no surprises. We are pleased that the matter can now move forward, for both Mr. Parnas and the public interest.”
A separate filing by prosecutors on the Parnas case indicated they were withholding certain evidence from the defense, with a judge’s approval, in connection with an ongoing investigation.
The new charges were included in a superseding indictment that also charges Igor Fruman and Andrey Kukushkin. The quartet are accused of a complex web of campaign finance schemes, some of which overlapped with President Donald Trump’s effort to dig up dirt on Joe Biden in Ukraine.
“As alleged, Lev Parnas and David Correia conspired in a fraud using a company called ‘Fraud Guarantee’ that purported to insure investors against corporate fraud while in fact, as alleged, they misled investors as to what would be done with their money. ‘Fraud Guarantee’ takes on a different meaning in light of today’s allegations that the company was a vehicle for committing fraud, not insuring against it,” acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said.
Parnas, Correia, Fruman, and Kukushkin were also slapped with new charges prohibiting foreign nationals from contributing to election campaigns.
Parnas and Correia pitched Fraud Guarantee starting in 2012 as a company that would sell insurance policies protecting investors in other companies from fraud. The company never launched.
“The behavior alleged today is indeed fraudulent — guaranteed,” FBI Assistant Director William Sweeney Jr. said.
Attorneys for Kukushkin, Correia and Fruman either did not respond or declined comment.
Giuliani replied to text messages from The New York Daily News by “liking” one text, “loving” another and re-sending the reporter’s inquiry back to him.
When asked over text if he was concerned about an indictment, Giuliani replied “no.”
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