Giuliani

The Ukrainian Week|Dec 2013|Between Stability and the Instinct of Survival

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by Oles Oleksiyenko

[Note: This story from 2013 contains information about Louis Freeh’s client Andriy Kliuyev and Andriy Derkach, who has been reportedly feeding information to Louis Freeh’s longtime associate Rudy Giuliani.]

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MP Hennadiy Moskal, referring to secret documents received from his own sources, stated that prior to the start of the dispersal an encrypted telegram marked “secret” was sent to all oblasts other than Zakarpattia and Ivano-Frankivsk, ordering them to transfer their Berkut units to the disposition of the Interior Ministry, not the National Security and Defence Council or the Kyiv police. At the same time, opposition members leaked reports on interrogations of Popov, Sivkovych and Koriak, conducted on December 13. According to the reports, the three gave evidence that on the eve of the tragic events on the Maidan, Vitaliy Zakharchenko, the Minister of Internal Affairs, personally phoned him and ordered him to execute all the commands of Volodymyr Sivkovych. Oleksandr Popov stated that Andriy Kliuyev, National Defence and Security Council Secretary, had personally phoned him twice on November 29, to give him a similar order. The interrogation report for Popov suggests that it was Sivkovych who was coordinating the brutal battle. Interrogation reports for Sivkovych contain information that on the eve of the EuroMaidan operation he met with Andriy Derkach, who is known for lobbying Russian interests in Ukraine and has close ties with Viktor Medvedchuk. Vladimir Putin is the godfather for Medvedchuk’s daughter. Medvedchuk is considered to play a leading role in the implementation of Russian scenarios through Ukrainian top officials.

This hints at a clear Russian trail. Kliuyev, and his Deputies Sivkovych and Derkach, not to mention Medvedchuk, have long lobbied the Kremlin’s interests in Ukraine, related in one way or another to Soviet and later Russian special services. This trail had been visible before, first in the disruption of the Association Agreement with the EU in 2011 when Yulia tymoshenko put in jail; then in early 2013 when MPs visiting Tymoshenko at the Kachanivka prison were forced out right before the upcoming Ukraine-EU summit. According to the ex-Party of Regions’ MP Inna Bohoslovska, Andriy Kliuyev assured her that the Association Agreement would not be signed even when everything suggested the opposite outcome. Meanwhile, he was closely involved in the entire process as one of the key negotiators with EU Enlargement Commissioner Stephan Füle. Now, Füle refuses to meet with Kliuyev under any circumstances. Perhaps, he has a good grasp on the situation.

Earlier, a lot of information was leaked to the mass media about Andriy Kliuyev’s role in provocations of clashes during the May rally (see Anti-Fascism & the Yanukovych Regime at ukrainianweek.com) by the titushkas and beating of journalists in Kyiv. In other words, Andriy Kliuyev could well be a key figure in the implementation of Russian destabilization scenarios in Ukraine. However, he continues to hold a high state position, which allows him to coordinate the activities of all enforcement agencies. Therefore, the opposition has a good reason to insist on his removal from office and arrest.

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Washington Monthly|Sep 2018|This Shady Consultant Is Paying Guiliani While He’s Also Trump’s Lawyer

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by Mike Lofgren
September 17, 2018

One of the endlessly fascinating things about Washington is that once you start pulling a thread close to one of the town’s gray eminences, there is no telling what you might find.

The press recently reported that Rudy Giuliani is trying to pressure the Romanian government to soften its anti-corruption campaign to benefit a Romanian-American real estate tycoon who was convicted and sentenced to prison. The fact that Giuliani is performing this service while he’s also the White House counsel is troubling enough. But what should have garnered more attention—and so far has not—is that Giuliani is being paid by the Freeh Group, a private consultancy run by former FBI director Louis Freeh.

Freeh’s involvement in this case fits a pattern of his mercenary post-government career. Far more seriously, Freeh was also a lawyer for Prevezon, a money-laundering Russian company caught up in Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Prevezon is also represented by Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who notoriously participated in the infamous June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Russian operatives and Paul Manafort, Donald Trump, Jr., and Jared Kushner to discuss supposed “dirt” on Hillary Clinton.

You may wonder why someone who headed our nation’s counter-intelligence efforts for eight years would be involved with such miscreants. Well, it turns out, working for these kinds of people is almost exclusively what Freeh has been doing since his FBI tenure ended.

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Guardian|Aug 2018|Giuliani says firm defending corrupt Romanian-American is paying him

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Trump’s attorney said he wrote to the Romanian president under a retainer paid by Freeh Group, who represent Gabriel Popoviciu

by Jon Swaine

Donald Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani is being paid to assist lawyers working to free a wealthy Romanian-American real estate magnate who was convicted and sentenced to prison over a corrupt land deal.

Giuliani last week wrote to Romania’s president and prime minister to complain about the nature of their country’s efforts to tackle corruption. He called for an amnesty for people convicted under what he called the “excesses” of the Romanian anticorruption authorities.

The former New York City mayor said on Tuesday that he wrote the letter under a retainer he is paid by Freeh Group, a private consultancy run by Giuliani’s friend Louis Freeh, a former FBI director and federal judge. Giuliani declined to say how much he was paid.

Freeh represents Gabriel “Puiu” Popoviciu, who was convicted in 2016 of crimes relating to his purchase of land in Bucharest that he developed into a shopping mall. The conviction was upheld last year by an appeals court and Popoviciu was sentenced to seven years in prison. After police struggled to find him, he was located in London and arrested.

In a statement last year, Freeh said he had concluded that Popoviciu’s conviction and sentence were “not supported by either the facts or the law” after reviewing the case with a team that included former federal prosecutors.

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Nat’l Law Journal|Aug 2018|Giuliani Says He Had ‘No Intention of Hiding’ Effort to Influence Romanian Government

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by Ryan Lovelace

Rudy Giuliani’s representation of President Donald Trump may have led to his departure from Greenberg Traurig earlier this year, but the former New York City mayor’s close ties to his high-profile client have reportedly led to new business opportunities elsewhere.

Aside from his work defending the president on cable television shows, Giuliani has been looking to influence affairs in Romania at the behest of paying interests.

Giuliani authored a letter to Romanian President Klaus Iohannis last week, first published by Romanian media. In the letter dated Aug. 22, Giuliani wrote to express “concern about the continued damage to the rule of law in Romania, committed under the pretext of law enforcement.” Giuliani’s letter called for amnesty for those who were charged and convicted under the “excesses” of Romania’s National Anticorruption Directorate, especially in light of “secret protocols” involving the Romanian Intelligence Service.

Giuliani told Politico Europe that his letter relied on information provided to him by former FBI director Louis Freeh, and that the latter’s consulting firm, Freeh Group International Solutions, was “paying my fee.”

Giuliani did not say who asked him to offer his opinion to the Romanian president.

Freeh, a former chairman of Pepper Hamilton who cut all ties with the firm in 2016 to return to his consulting outfit, publicly criticized the rule of law in Romania in an interview published Aug. 23 that mirrors Giuliani’s private concerns.

Why Freeh turned to Giuliani for help in Romania remains unclear, and Freeh’s firm did not respond to requests for comment on the matter. But clues may be found in examining Trump’s nominee to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to Romania, Adrian Zuckerman.

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New York Times|Aug 2018|Giuliani Criticizes an Anticorruption Crackdown in Romania

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By Kit Gillet

BUCHAREST, Romania — Romania, long considered one of the most corrupt states in the European Union, has made energetic efforts to root out graft, with high-profile lawmakers caught in the cross hairs and concerns about the rule of law prompting rallies attended by tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of protesters.

Now, unexpectedly, Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump’s personal attorney, has waded into the debate, sending a letter to Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis, criticizing the country’s anticorruption efforts.

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Mr. Giuliani said on Wednesday that despite representing Mr. Trump he was “still an independent lawyer and consultant.” He said the work involving Romania was through his security company, Giuliani Security & Safety, which had been retained by Freeh Group International Solutions, a security company run by Louis J. Freeh, a former director of the F.B.I.

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The Freeh Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

Mr. Freeh’s company is known to be representing a Romanian businessman, Gabriel Popoviciu, who was sentenced to seven years in prison in August 2017 in a case centered on a real-estate deal in northern Bucharest.

Criticizing the conviction last year, Mr. Freeh said the decision against Mr. Popoviciu was “not supported by either the facts or the law.”

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