Giuliani's venture with Lev Parnas scored $500,000 in financing by anti-Clinton Republican lawyer

The New York Times is reporting that the financing that Rudy Giuliani's friend Lev Parnas was seeking was financed by a Long Island Republican who hates Hillary Clinton.

The one question that has remained in the ongoing melodrama that is Rudy Giuliani's professional career is where a Ukrainian-born American businessman scored the $500,000 needed to pay Giuliani for "consulting" work for Parnas' company Fraud Guarantee.

"It turns out that the money came from a Long Island lawyer named Charles Gucciardo, a Republican donor and supporter of Mr. Trump. The payment was part of a deal in which Mr. Gucciardo would become an investor in a company started by the businessman, Lev Parnas, according to Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Gucciardo's lawyer and other people familiar with the arrangement," The Times reported late Wednesday.

Giuliani got the money for his own firm in September and October 2018. The work then became a front for a secret campaign to get the Ukrainian government to start an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden, who Trump presumed would be his 2020 opponent.

"Mr. Gucciardo, 62, a plaintiff's lawyer, has not been implicated in any wrongdoing, and there is no evidence that he was involved in the Ukrainian pressure campaign," The Times noted in a disclaimer.

According to Gucciardo's lawyer, he invested the money because of Giuliani's involvement.

"He understood that he was investing in a reputable company that Rudolph Giuliani was going to be the spokesman and the face of," The Times quoted lawyer Randy Zelin. He compared Giuliani's role to one played for data-security company LifeLock. "When you think of cybersecurity, you think of Rudolph Giuliani."

Parnas pitched Fraud Guarantee as a company for investors to get insurance against the risk of fraud. The $500,000 was supposed to be a. loan, The Times cited those familiar with the deal. But Fraud Guarantee doesn't have any customers, and Giuliani never did any commercials or promotions for the company.

Parnas was arrested last month along with his business partner Igor Fruman as they were attempting to depart to Europe on a one-way flight. Rudy Giuliani had just had lunch with the two men and he was slated to leave the country in the following days. Both men have been photographed with top Republicans and allies of President Donald Trump. Parnas specifically claimed to know Trump very well and was hurt when Trump acted like he didn't know him. Parnas then said he would cooperate with the investigation.

Read the full report and timeline from The New York Times.