CONFLICT OF INTEREST?

Giuliani Lobbied Justice Department on Behalf of Wealthy Venezuelan Who Hosted Him at Spanish Estate: Report

He stayed at energy executive Alejandro Betancourt López’s estate during a trip to Madrid to meet with a top aide to the Ukrainian president.

In August, Rudy Giuliani stayed at an estate owned by a Venezuelan energy executive during a trip to Madrid to meet with a top aide of the Ukrainian president and push for political investigations sought by President Donald Trump. A month later, Giuliani met with a top Justice Department official to argue that the wealthy Venezuelan, Alejandro Betancourt López, should not face criminal charges in a money-laundering case in Florida, The Washington Post reported Tuesday. The incident shows how Giuliani is still working with foreign clients who have matters before the U.S. government while he’s working on behalf of the Trump administration as the president’s personal lawyer.

In the money-laundering case, top officials of the Venezuelan state-owned oil company, business leaders, and bankers have been accused of conspiring to steal over $1.2 billion in an elaborate scheme that involved Miami real estate and other fronts. While Betancourt is not one of the eight men charged in the case, The Washington Post reported that in the criminal complaint, he’s named as an uncharged c0-conspirator. “This is attorney client privilege so I will withstand whatever malicious lies or spin you put on it,” Giuliani told the newspaper on Tuesday. Betancourt’s lawyer denied any relationship with Trump’s personal attorney.