Giuliani firm lobbied for wide-range of clients

Corporate enterprise connections
Giuliani's private enterprises at times put him in league with corporate executives who, decades ago, he might have faced in the courtroom.

Case in point: Naturex Inc, a French food-flavoring firm that hired Giuliani Capital Advisors to help with its 2005 acquisition of another company.

A year later, Naturex was sued in federal court by the U.S. attorney in New York - the same job Giuliani once held - for violating the Controlled Substances Act. The prosecutor accused Naturex of importing a chemical that can be used to make amphetamines and methamphetamines without registering or keeping proper records of the transactions.

A Drug Enforcement Administration inquiry concluded Naturex had, over a period of years, imported and exported benzaldehyde more than 100 times without notifying the government. In 2004, Giuliani was hired by the pharmaceutical industry to study - and testified before Congress on - the dangers of importing prescription drugs.

A spokeswoman for Giuliani Capital Advisors said Monday the firm was unaware of any inquiry by the DEA into Naturex's business at the time.

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Naturex paid $325,000 to settle its case. A company spokeswoman in France and its lawyer on the New York case did not return calls or e-mails from AP seeking comment.

Giuliani Partners was hired in 2002 by Purdue Pharma to help it combat smuggling and abuse of its prescription painkiller OxyContin, which was blamed for causing or contributing to hundreds of deaths nationwide. On Thursday, Purdue and three current and former executives pleaded guilty to misleading the public about the risk of addiction to the drug; they face $634 million in fines.

Security has been a key business area for Giuliani Partners, whose ventures include Bio-ONE, which decontaminates buildings tainted by anthrax and other biological and chemical weapons. Giuliani Partners and Nextel Communications partnered on a police and fire communications venture.

The firm's clients include Shell U.S. Gas & Power Co. and TransCanadaCorp., which hired it to provide security consulting services for its Broadwater natural gas project in Long Island Sound.

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association and a coalition it formed, the Wagering Integrity Alliance, hired Giuliani Partners to oversee a review of electronic betting systems and recommend security improvements after three fraternity brothers tried to fix bets to get a $3 million payoff during the Breeders' Cup races in Arlington Heights, Ill. A group of Mexican businessmen paid Giuliani Partners $4.3 million to fight rampant crime in Mexico City.

If a business needs to ask what Giuliani costs, it probably can't afford him.

In 2003, Giuliani chatted with Don Imus on the "Imus in the Morning" radio show about how well he was recovering from prostate cancer thanks to a treatment called Theraseed, made by Theragenics.

Theragenics' chief financial officer touted Giuliani's remarks in a conference call with reporters discussing its earnings.

"Late in the year we purchased airtime on the popular `Imus in the Morning' New York radio show and received excellent exposure," the executive, James MacLennan, told reporters. "During an Imus interview with Rudy Giuliani, the pair talked about Theragenics Theraseed and how well Rudy is doing following his treatment with Theraseed."

The company didn't pay Giuliani to promote its product. Theraseed spokeswoman Lisa Rassel said: "It was after 9/11, and we couldn't have afforded him."

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