Federal prosecutors scrutinizing President Trump’s personal attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani and two of his associates are to question a top executive of Ukraine’s state-owned gas company Thursday about his encounters with those associates as the pair pursued energy deals in Ukraine this year.
The executive of the Ukrainian company, Andrew Favorov, an American citizen, agreed to meet with prosecutors for the Southern District of New York who had asked to speak with him about his experiences with the two men, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman.
The pair worked with Giuliani to gather information about the Ukraine-related activities of former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
Favorov’s attorney, Lanny Breuer, said his client “will voluntarily sit down with the government attorneys.” Breuer declined to comment further.
A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York declined to comment. The prosecutors’ scheduled meeting with Favorov was first reported by the Associated Press.
The interest in Favorov, who serves as a top executive at the state-owned company Naftogaz, indicates that investigators are focusing on efforts by Parnas and Fruman to secure business deals for themselves in the historically corrupt Ukrainian energy sector while they were also assisting Giuliani’s work in that country.
Federal prosecutors have been examining Giuliani’s ties to the two men, who have been charged with violating U.S. campaign finance laws by allegedly helping to funnel foreign money to candidates and political committees. They have pleaded not guilty.
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