Giuliani is going to need a pardon

Federal prosecutors in New York who are investigating Rudy Giuliani are seeking to interview people with knowledge of Ukraine's state-run oil-and-gas company, Naftogaz, according to two people familiar with the matter, suggesting investigators have opened a line of inquiry into whether Giuliani and his associates sought to secure energy deals by asserting influence on the company.

[...]

Naftogaz stands at the center of an effort by Giuliani associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, and their purported natural-gas company, Global Energy Producers, to replace Naftogaz's chief executive officer with someone who would be more beneficial to their own business interests earlier this year. They pursued that outcome, CNN has reported, around the same time they were working with Giuliani, President Donald Trump's personal attorney, to encourage Ukranian officials to investigate Trump's political rival, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. They were also actively pushing to have the US ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, removed.

[...]

An American energy consultant who operates in Ukraine, Dale Perry, described the efforts to oust Naftogaz's CEO, Andriy Kobolyev, who is known for his anti-corruption reforms at the company. At an energy conference in Houston last March, Parnas and Fruman asked a senior Naftogaz executive Andrew Favorov if he would go along with their plan to oust the company's current CEO and become its head, according to Perry, who is Favorov's former business partner.

  CNN

They can put "multitasking" on their resumés.

Parnas and Fruman also told Favorov that Trump would soon replace the then-US ambassador to Ukraine, and that an ambassador more amenable to their energy-business interest would be appointed, according to Perry.

"What they said was, not that we can, but they are removing her, and that has already been agreed at the highest level of the US government," Perry said. [ed: Emphasis added.]

[...]

Giuliani has maintained he's acted appropriately in the interests of his client, President Donald Trump.

He's going to have to quit doing that if he wants to stay out from under the bus.

Perry believes Parnas and Fruman, who have no prior experience in the gas business, may have had assistance from indicted Ukranian oligarch Dmitri Firtash, who made his fortune being the intermediary between Naftogaz and Gazprom, Russia's state-owned energy corporation. The two men mentioned Firtash in their meeting with Favorov, according to Perry, saying Firtash believed Naftogaz owed him money. Firtash has been fighting extradition into the United States since he was indicted on bribery charges in 2013. Firtash's spokesperson told CNN Parnas was just a translator for Firtash, and the two have no business arrangement.

Two sources familiar with the matter told CNN that Perry's description of the meeting between Parnas, Fruman and Favorov was accurate.

[...]

As they pursue interviews with associates of Naftogaz, prosecutors in New York are also investigating Giuliani's ties to Global Energy Producers.

[...]

Robert Costello, an attorney for Giuliani, told CNN, "Mr. Giuliani had no interest in GEP at anytime. This is quite simply a false story and I am sure counsel for Mr. Fruman will say the same thing. Someone is spending a lot of time and imagination dreaming up one false story after another."

The orange one.

Fiona Hill, Trump's former top Russia adviser, said an American member of Naftogaz's board told her in May that a number of Ukrainians had complained to him about Giuliani discussing investigations and pushing to change the board of Naftogaz.

Alexander Vindman, the National Security Council's top Ukraine expert, testified before congress that the board member was aware of effort by Giuliani to "facilitate financial transactions."

Parnas and Fruman told Ukranian officials that Giuliani was involved in their liquified natural gas venture, according to Kenneth McCallion, a former federal prosecutor who has represented Ukrainians.

[...]

"It's really not just about the Bidens," McCallion said of their interactions with Ukrainian officials. "It's really about the money."

Isn't it always?

[Parnas and Fruman] created Global Energy Producers and used it to donate $325,000 to a political action committee, America First Action, which supports President Donald Trump. Prosecutors allege Parnas and Fruman used the company to hide the source of their donation.

At the time of the donation in May 2018, according to the indictment, "GEP had not engaged in the [liquified natural gas] business, and had no income or significant assets."

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE: