This summer, Parnas told potential business associates that his company began receiving payments from the oligarch, Dmytro Firtash, who is living in Austria while fighting bribery charges in the US, the sources told CNN.
Parnas also told these people he met with Firtash several times over the summer while in Vienna. In June, according to one of these sources, Parnas vouched to Firtash for two well-known Washington lawyers who later brought up Firtash’s plight in a face-to-face meeting with Attorney General William Barr.
Bodyguards and private jets
Parnas has emerged as a pivotal figure in the Trump-Ukraine scandal, which triggered impeachment proceedings against the President by House Democrats.
In private conversations with would-be business associates before his arrest this month, Parnas boasted that his newfound luxurious lifestyle was bankrolled by Firtash, two sources told CNN. Beginning in mid-August, this included around-the-clock bodyguards, two luxury SUVs for his entourage, and at least six private charter flights in the past several months, according to the sources as well as documents exclusively obtained by CNN.
Giuliani was on at least one of those flights, according to the documents.
Parnas now has private security guards outside of his home in Florida, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Firtash’s lawyers have downplayed the relationship between their client and Parnas. In statements, they describe Parnas as merely an interpreter hired to communicate with Firtash, who does not speak English.
“Mr. Firtash met Mr. Parnas for the first time in June 2019. Mr. Firtash had no business relationship with Mr. Parnas or Mr. Fruman,” according to a statement from the law firm of diGenova & Toensing, which represents Firtash. “Mr. Parnas was retained as a translator by the law firm of diGenova & Toensing. No money has been paid to Mr. Parnas by Mr. Firtash beyond his work as a translator for the law firm.”
But two sources who spoke with Parnas tell CNN that he talked about how he was cultivating Firtash for his own business interests. “I’m the best-paid interpreter in the world,” Parnas joked to the sources who spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity.
Firtash’s legal team is still fighting his 2013 indictment on bribery and racketeering charges in Chicago. A spokesperson for Firtash’s company, Group DF, declined to comment when reached by CNN.
Firtash denies any ties to organized crime and maintains his innocence.
Landing in Firtash’s orbit
Parnas played a pivotal role in Firtash’s decision to replace Davis with Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing, according to a source with direct knowledge of the situation.
Parnas vouched for them directly to Firtash at a meeting in Vienna in June, specifically touting their personal ties to Giuliani, a source close to the lawyers told CNN.
Firtash was arrested in 2014 and the Austrian Supreme Court finally approved his extradition in June, though some legal obstacles still remain while he seeks to overturn the ruling.
A source with knowledge of the meeting told CNN that Parnas was the middleman who, a month after the Vienna meeting, formally met with Firtash’s legal team as well as diGenova and Toensing back in the US.
A Justice Department official confirmed to CNN that the meeting occurred, and that diGenova and Toensing’s request was rejected. A spokesman for diGenova and Toensing declined to comment.
Meanwhile, Parnas was reaping the benefits of his new connection to Firtash.
Flights up and down the East Coast
Associates noticed a change after Parnas returned to Boca Raton from his summer meetings with Firtash, sources close to the situation told CNN.
Whereas one year earlier, Parnas was telling his wealthy contacts that he was short on cash and needed loans, he was now living the high life — surrounded by bodyguards, traveling in luxury SUVs and jetting up and down the East Coast on private chartered planes.
Three sources told CNN that a January invoice for about $30,000 from a charter jet company in Florida was left unpaid for months. But in August, after the Vienna trips, Parnas started using the company again and agreed to a payment plan, the sources said.
They also started to ramp up their own spending. Between August 23 and October 6, Parnas and Fruman used their company, Global Energy Producers, to pay for six private flights up and down the East Coast, according to documents obtained by CNN.
Parnas told some associates that Firtash was funding the flights, those three sources told CNN. He also told some of them that Firtash was now paying all the expenses for Global Energy Producers.
According to flight manifests obtained by CNN, Giuliani and his friends and family joined Parnas and Fruman on a flight from Florida to New Hampshire in late January.
Proposed Qatar gas deal
By September, Parnas wanted to find a way to be paid more legitimately by Firtash, he told three people. On August 19, Parnas and Correia appeared on a sunny afternoon at a cigar bar, Club Monte Cristo, in Boca Raton, according to two people with knowledge of the meeting. Fruman was supposed to attend but was stuck in traffic.
At that meeting, Parnas and Correia tried to sell an American energy magnate, whom Parnas cultivated through Giuliani, on a deal involving their new patron. Correia asked if the businessman would open a letter of credit to buy gas from Qatar, where they claimed to have a contact. Firtash, Correia explained, would in turn sign a letter of credit to him and buy the gas at a mark-up.
Correia, Parnas and Fruman would take a share of the profits. Firtash, they claimed, would be a natural partner for the project given his history selling Russian gas into Ukraine. While Parnas gave the impression the Qatar deal was Firtash’s idea and had his blessing, according to two sources who spoke to CNN, it’s unclear what if anything Firtash actually knew of the proposal. His lawyers have stated that he had no business relationship with Correia, Parnas or Fruman.
In the end, the American businessman balked over concerns about working with an indicted oligarch, and ultimately declined the offer.
Correia’s lawyer did not respond to requests for comment.
Bringing it back to Biden
As vice president, Biden led a push by the Obama administration that was joined by the International Monetary Fund and other European nations to have Shokin removed because he was not prosecuting corruption cases.
By the time of Parnas’ attempted trip to Vienna this month, Shokin was already involved in Firtash’s case. Shokin had submitted an affidavit to an Austrian court supporting Firtash’s arguments against extradition, claiming there was political interference by the US.
Parnas and Giuliani hoped to book Shokin for a Fox News interview in Vienna, where he could levy his allegations against Biden for the first time on American television, according to four sources. It never happened.
CNN’s Evan Perez and Katelyn Polantz contributed to this story.