Two Florida businessmen tied to President Donald Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and the Ukraine impeachment investigation lived lavish lifestyles despite their 'dodgy business deals and unpaid bills'.

Ukraine-born Lev Parnas and Belarus-born Igor Fruman were both arrested last month while trying to board an international flight with one-way tickets at Dulles International Airport in Virginia.

They were charged with federal campaign finance violations, which relate to a $325,000 donation to a group supporting President Donald Trump's reelection. They pleaded not guilty and were released on bail.

On Saturday, the businessmen's past dealings with shell companies, ballooning debts and fraud allegations were laid bare by CNN, and will likely be of interest to investigators in the Ukraine probe.

According to the news site, in the past Parnas, 47, has been accused of squatting at an associate's condo and threatening a man at gunpoint when he was asked to leave. Parnas has denied these allegations.

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Two Florida businessmen tied to President Donald Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and the Ukraine impeachment investigation lived lavish lifestyles despite their 'dodgy business deals and unpaid bills'

Igor Fruman (left) and Les Parnas (right) were arrested last month and charged with federal campaign finance violations. On Saturday, the businessmen's past dealings with shell companies, ballooning debts and fraud allegations were laid bare

In 2008, Parnas was reportedly squatting in a condo that he was supposed to be renting from Michael King, according to CNN.

King reported Parnas to authorities but said he was afraid of what Parnas was capable of. When asked why, King allegedly told investigators that Parnas had threatened him and his family.

At the time, Parnas claimed he was staying at the Sunny Isles Beach property via a verbal agreement between him and King.

Between 2002 and 2015 Parnas was reportedly sued three times.

The first occurred when his firm Aaron Investment Group didn't pay $100,000 for season tickets and advertising to a sister company of the Miami Heat basketball team.

In 2009, Parnas was sued again. This time, his company, Edgetech, was sued by an investor of making misrepresentations of products, according to CNN. Edgetech distributed a device called The Edge, which allowed users to access the internet.

Edgetech and others were ordered to pay $336,879.

In 2015, Parnas and his business partner were sued for owing more than $20,000 on a property, where Parnas' company Fraud Guarantee was registered.

Parnas was also forced to pay back-rent of $15,000 on another property in Florida and $500,000 to a family trust from which he had borrowed money to make a film that never went to production, according to CNN.

Despite all of those dealings, Parnas would travel around the US in luxury vehicles and private jets.

Meanwhile, Fruman was reportedly caught up in similar dealings, which included creating companies in his estranged wife's name without her knowledge, physically abusing her and possessing large amounts of drugs, including cocaine, that he would pass out as party favors at events, according to CNN. Fruman has also denied the claims against him.

Parnas (right) and Fruman used wire transfers from a corporate entity to make the $325K donation to the America First Action committee in 2018. The to the Trump-allied PAC was political spending tied to Parnas and Fruman, with at least $478K going to GOP campaigns

Recently, Fruman, whose family once lived in a luxury high-rise in Bal Harbour faced foreclosure on a similar unit if he didn't pay a $3million loan that was taken out on the home.

According to CNN, that loan appears to be the funds Fruman and Parnas used to underwrite their donations to Republican causes in 2018.

Records show that Parnas and Fruman used wire transfers from a corporate entity to make the $325,000 donation to the America First Action committee in May 2018.

But wire transfer records that became public through a lawsuit show that the corporate entity reported as making the transaction was not the source of the money.

The big donation to the Trump-allied PAC was part of a flurry of political spending tied to Parnas and Fruman, with at least $478,000 in donations flowing to GOP campaigns and PACs in little more than two months.

The money enabled the relatively unknown entrepreneurs to quickly gain access to the highest levels of the Republican Party, including meetings with Trump at the White House and Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

Prosecutors allege that Parnas urged a congressman to seek the ouster of the US ambassador to Ukraine, at the behest of Ukrainian government officials.

That happened about the same time that Parnas and Fruman committed to raising more than $20,000 for the politician.

The congressman wasn't identified in court papers, but the donations match campaign finance reports for former Rep Pete Sessions, a Texas Republican who lost his reelection bid in November.

In May 2018, Parnas posted a photo of himself and his business partner David Correia with Sessions in his Capitol Hill office, with the caption 'Hard at work!!'

Correia and Andrey Kukushkin, a Ukrainian-born US citizen, were also charged in the case.

Parnas and Fruman were arrested as they attempted to get on a flight to Frankfurt, Germany, according to a person familiar with the investigation. US authorities are looking at whether that was a first stop en route to Ukraine, said the person, who wasn't authorized to discuss the probe and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The indictment says Parnas and Fruman 'sought to advance their personal financial interests and the political interests of at least one Ukrainian government official with whom they were working' and took steps to conceal it from third parties, including creditors.

They created a limited liability corporation, Global Energy Producers, and 'intentionally caused certain large contributions to be reported in the name of GEP instead of in their own names'.

Prosecutors charge that the two men falsely claimed the contributions came from GEP, which was described as a liquefied natural gas business. At that point, the company had no income or significant assets, the indictment said.

Prosecutors allege that Parnas and Fruman conspired to make illegal contributions to try to skirt the limit on federal campaign contributions.

The men are also accused of making contributions to candidates for state and federal office, joint fundraising committees and independent expenditure committees in the names of other people.

The commitment to raise more than $20,000 for the congressman was made in May and June 2018.

Trump referred to Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, who was recalled to the US, as 'bad news' in his July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Sessions said in a statement tweeted by a spokesman that he 'could not have had any knowledge of the scheme described in the indictment.' Sessions wasn't asked to take any action during the meetings with Parnas and Fruman and wrote a letter to the secretary of state about Yovanovitch after colleagues in Congress said she was 'disparaging' the president, he said.

The indictment also charges that Kukushkin conspired with the three other defendants to make political contributions, funded by a foreign national, to politicians seeking state and federal office 'to gain influence with candidates as to policies that would benefit a future business venture.'

An unnamed foreigner wired $500,000 from a bank account overseas through New York to the defendants for contributions to two candidates for state office in Nevada, the indictment alleges. Foreigners are not permitted to contribute to US elections.

Giuliani said last week that he has hired his own lawyers to represent him

I was working for Trump: Rudy Giuliani said everything he did concerning Ukraine was for the president - but did not say what the 'false charges' were against him

The indictment accuses the four men of also participating in a scheme to acquire retail marijuana licenses through donations to local and federal politicians in New York, Nevada and other states.

America First Action said the $325,000 contribution will remain in a separate account while the court cases play out. A spokeswoman, Kelly Sadler, said the committee will 'scrupulously comply with the law'.

The AP also reported that Parnas and Fruman helped arrange a January meeting in New York between Ukraine's former top prosecutor, Yuri Lutsenko, and Giuliani, as well as other meetings with top government officials.

Giuliani's efforts to launch a Ukrainian corruption investigation were echoed by Trump in the July 25 call with Zelenskiy. That conversation is now at the heart of the impeachment inquiry.

House Democrats subpoenaed Parnas and Fruman for documents they have refused to produce to three House committees. The panels have also subpoenaed Giuliani.

A whistleblower complaint by an unnamed intelligence official makes reference to 'associates' of Giuliani in Ukraine who were attempting to make contact with Zelenskiy's team, though it's not clear that refers to Parnas and Fruman.

Giuliani said last week that he has hired his own lawyers to represent him.

The former mayor of New York and federal prosecutor, wrote on Twitter that he is being 'represented and assisted by' Robert Costello, a former federal prosecutor in New York, and Eric Creizman and Melissa Madrigal of the law firm Pierce Bainbridge.

Prosecutors in the US attorney's office in Manhattan are examining Giuliani's interactions with Parnas and Fruman. Giuliani has not been accused of criminal wrongdoing.

Trump (pictured on Saturday) has derided the congressional probe as a political smear, and Giuliani has said he would not cooperate

Giuliani also is a central figure in the US House of Representatives' fast-moving impeachment inquiry into whether Trump abused his office for political gain.

The Democratic-led House investigation is focused on a July 25 phone call in which Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who served as a director of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma.

For nearly a year, Giuliani has pursued unsubstantiated allegations that Biden tried to fire a Ukrainian prosecutor to stop him from investigating Burisma.

Giuliani has said the two foreign-born businessmen, Parnas and Fruman, assisted him in this effort.

Giuliani tweeted on Wednesday that the investigation he conducted 'concerning 2016 Ukrainian collusion and corruption, was done solely as a defense attorney to defend my client against false charges, that kept changing as one after another were disproven'.

A spokesman for the Manhattan US Attorney's Office declined to comment.

Creizman, of Pierce Bainbridge, confirmed he was representing Giuliani. Costello did not immediately return a call for comment.

Costello, the former prosecutor, has represented deceased hotel mogul Leona Helmsley and the late George Steinbrenner, who owned the New York Yankees.

According to his firm's website, Costello served as the former deputy chief of the criminal division for the US Attorney´s Office in the Southern District of New York, which brought the charges against Parnas and Fruman. Giuliani led that office from 1983 to 1989.

Giuliani told Reuters in October that he was paid $500,000 to provide business and legal advice to Fraud Guarantee, a company Parnas cofounded. Giuliani has said he had no involvement in the flow of money at the heart of the indictment of Parnas and Fruman.

Trump has derided the congressional probe as a political smear, and Giuliani has said he would not cooperate.