Giuliani by Andrew Kirtzman

Author:Andrew Kirtzman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2022-09-13T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

Loss can be debilitating, but it can also be liberating. Prior to the crash-and-burn of his candidacy there were lines Giuliani couldn’t cross—ethical, moral, political. The pervasive glare of media scrutiny wouldn’t permit it. But if the spotlight on Giuliani Partners wasn’t completely extinguished after the race it was certainly dimmed. With less at stake to his reputation and fewer people watching, the restraints came off.

Coming home after a bruising loss, he encountered a changed landscape. Giuliani Partners was long past its heyday. Many of his closest confidants were gone or headed out the door. Bernie Kerik was facing jail time. The company was laying off employees; it would clear out of the Ernst & Young building within two years.

He was at a turning point, but his options were circumscribed by his extravagant lifestyle. At one point, he was supporting six homes and eleven country club memberships. In one six-month period alone he spent $12,000 on cigars and $7,000 on fountain pens.

Setting out to sate his materialistic needs, he went looking for money in all the wrong places.

On May 7, 2008, he held a press conference at NASDAQ headquarters in Times Square to endorse a mayoral candidate. Standing beside him, a foot taller, was Vitali Klitschko, a professional boxer nicknamed “Dr. Ironfist.” He was a towering, chiseled figure resembling Ivan Drago, the Russian boxer in a Rocky movie, an Eastern European punching machine stretching six feet, seven inches tall.

Klitschko was running for mayor of Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, and Giuliani, for some reason, was promoting his candidacy. “They need a leader like you, who can deal with corruption, who can deal with reform of government, which is so necessary,” he told Klitschko in front of reporters.

As it happened, Klitschko was a client who was supposedly relying on Giuliani’s advice on fighting corruption and crime. Advising him was a curious decision on Giuliani’s part, only months after withdrawing his candidacy for president. It was also curious that Klitschko would fly halfway across the world for advice about criminal justice policy, especially for a campaign he hadn’t yet won (he went on to lose). More likely, a photo op with America’s Mayor carried credibility with the voters back home.

But Giuliani wasn’t in it just for the potential consulting fee. Eastern Europeans were still big fans, presidential election or not, and business leaders and politicians were eager to tie their names to his brand. His entry point was Ukraine, and he was making new friends who could show him around.

He first visited the country in 2003, when he came to Kyiv to dedicate a September 11 memorial at the behest of a Ukrainian oligarch. His connection to the country deepened thanks to Vitaly Pruss, a New Yorker originally from Belarus, who did business in Eastern Europe through his company TriGlobal Strategic Ventures. Pruss caught on to Giuliani’s appeal early, and invited him to make a paid visit to one of Russia’s largest steel companies, which took place the next year.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.