Federal prosecutors in Chicago piled on once they learned SDNY had indicted Giuliani henchman: report

The investigation into associates of Rudy Giuliani has expanded into a second United States Attorney's district, The Washington Postreported Tuesday.

"When two business associates of Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump’s personal lawyer, were arrested this month on charges that they funneled foreign money into U.S. elections, federal prosecutors working on a different case in Chicago took note," the newspaper noted. "The investigators had previously come across the two men, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, as they pursued a long-standing case against a Ukrainian gas tycoon accused of bribery, according to two people familiar with the matter."

The Chicago office is now reportedly working with the Southern District of New York on the case.

"Parnas had been working as an interpreter for the lawyers of the tycoon, Dmytro Firtash, since late July," the newspaper noted. "Chicago prosecutors suspect there might be a broader relationship among Firtash, Parnas and Fruman, the people familiar with the matter said."

Firtash reportedly has ties to Semion Mogilevich, who is known as the “boss of bosses."

"In 2010, WikiLeaks published an internal U.S. diplomatic cable from years earlier in which then-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor wrote that Firtash had 'acknowledged ties' to Mogilevich in a private meeting," The Post reported. "Taylor wrote that Firtash had denied breaking the law but said 'he needed Mogilevich’s approval to get into business in the first place.'”

Read the full report.