This story originally appeared in The Daily Beast newsletter Pay Dirt. Sign up for that newsletter HERE.
We’ve been closely following Global Energy Producers LLC and its huge donation to pro-Trump super PAC America First Action in May, and have now received information indicating the company is looking to cash in on one of President Donald Trump’s major new economic and foreign-policy initiatives.
By way of background, GEP was incorporated in Delaware in April, and proceeded to make a $325,000 contribution to America First and a $50,000 donation to a PAC supporting GOP Rep. Ron DeSantis’ Florida gubernatorial campaign. Two of the company’s executives, Igor Fruman and Lev Parnas, have also made some sizable contributions to a number of high-profile Republican political groups. Fruman has told U.S. Russian-language media that he joined Trump at a donor retreat at Mar-a-Lago in March and again at a private meeting with the president in Washington about two weeks before GEP’s America First contribution. Over the weekend, Parnas was spotted in Jerusalem, partying with a number of prominent Republican officials and donors, including U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.