EXCLUSIVE: An invisible company owned by Rudy Giuliani, President Trump's personal attorney, took between $150,000 & $350,000 in taxpayer-backed relief loans. It's unclear what he did with the money, but experts say it may indicate bank fraud. https://www.salon.com/2020/09/16/invisible-company-owned-by-rudy-giuliani-got-taxpayer-backed-ppp-money--but-where-did-it-go/

Independent journalist @WendySiegelman first broke the news of the existence of the company and the PPP loan, tipping off Salon’s Roger Sollenberger. https://twitter.com/WendySiegelman/status/1304559226036064256

To get the amount of money Giuliani did, business owners must prove payroll expenses between $720,000 and $1.68 million in 2019. Giuliani is the CEO — and only known employee — of WorldCapital Payroll Corp.

(He’s also reportedly under federal investigation.)

Intended to help small business owners survive the coronavirus pandemic, PPP loans were paid out using taxpayer funds. Giuliani is the president's personal lawyer, who flies on private jets, smokes expensive cigars and works for free.

“Get lost,” Giuliani told Salon in a text message when asked how he used the loan.

Giuliani later called back, saying he’d asked his bookkeeper about the nature of his own company. In Giuliani's telling, his bookkeeper had just explained to him the function of WorldCapital, which has processed payroll for his businesses for 18 years, including his own checks.

But it’s highly unlikely Giuliani needed any reminding. The company is registered as an S Corp, which means Giuliani is required by law to take a "reasonable" salary. This means WorldCapital has paid Giuliani a salary every year of its existence — one which he himself sets.

More importantly: Who are its other employees? This is where possible fraud may come into play. If you own separate companies, you apply for separate loans, per PPP rules. Giuliani must prove to his bank that WorldCapital paid at least $720,000 in its own payroll. But to whom?

Now, the bank. It turns out Giuliani went to Signature Bank, a small New York-based shop which came under scrutiny from financial officials for loans made while it had ties to the Trump and Kushner families. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/23/business/signature-bank-trump-kushner.html

Experts suggest three options:

1. Rudy secretly employs and pays a number of people a lot of money through this company.

2. The company misrepresented its finances to the government when it applied for the loan — a move which may constitute fraud, a felony.

3. Both.