Subpoenas for Giuliani’s business and associates indicate federal probe of a ‘very long list of serious crimes’

Before he was elected mayor of New York City in 1993, Republican Rudy Giuliani had a reputation for being a tough federal prosecutor. But now, Giuliani himself is being investigated by federal prosecutors — who, the Wall Street Journal reported this week, have issued subpoenas seeking information on Giuliani and two of his associates.

Those associates are Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, both of whom were recently arrested on campaign finance charges. According to a November 25 article by WSJ reporters Rebecca Davis O’Brien, Rebecca Ballhaus and Shelby Holliday, “A concern of the investigation is whether Mr. Giuliani violated federal lobbying laws by serving as an unregistered agent of a foreign government or hid his work for foreign nationals.”

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan, WSJ reports, issued a subpoena seeking information on Giuliani Partners, a security firm Giuliani founded in 2002. A separate subpoena was issued for a company that was founded by Parnas and used Giuliani as a business and legal consultant.

The subpoenas, according to WSJ sources, listed more than a dozen potential charges being considered by prosecutors — ranging from money laundering and obstruction of justice to making false statements to the federal government and serving as an agent of a foreign government without registering with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

Mimi Rocah, a former federal prosecutor who is often featured as a legal expert on MSNBC, read WSJ’s article and tweeted, “This is a very specific, and very long list of serious crimes that Giuliani is being investigated for.”

Joseph A. Bondy, Parnas’ attorney, has said that his client is willing to testify about Giuliani’s involvement in efforts to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. President Donald Trump is presently facing an impeachment inquiry in the U.S. House of Representatives for, on July 25, trying to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into investigating the Bidens — and Giuliani’s name has often come up in the impeachment hearings.