Two famous American lawyers who are now close to Donald Trump’s team – John Pappalardo and Joe Reeder – arrived in Kyiv, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
This was reported by the Kiev publication “Strana” with reference to its own sources in diplomatic circles.
The trip is not widely advertised, but, according to our sources, it is quite remarkable in itself, given the personalities of the visitors.
Both lawyers have worked in recent years with close Trump associate and current lawyer Rudolph Giuliani.
According to public records, John Pappalardo has extensive legal practice in matters relating to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), as well as fraud, insider trading and money laundering, while defending the accused party in almost all such cases).
John Pappalardo.
In addition, he is known for the fact that for 10 years he represented the interests of the disgraced Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky in his litigation with the Russian government over the Yukos company.
Joe Reeder was US Deputy Secretary of Defense from 1993 to 1997 under Bill Clinton. He still maintains close contacts with this department, representing the interests of the American army in various legal proceedings.
Joe Reeder.
Sources find it difficult to say what the purpose of the visit of these two eminent lawyers to Ukraine might be. Assumptions can be very different - from attempts to collect information about corruption in the highest echelons of the Ukrainian government to the possibility of finding out the role of representatives of the previous US Administration in the events in Ukraine in 2013-2014, as well as the interaction between the Hillary Clinton team and Kyiv during the 2016 election campaign.
As the publication notes, John Pappalardo and Joe Reeder have extensive contacts in US political circles and are trusted in Washington.