WASHINGTON – Then-Vice President Joe Biden spoke to Russian billionaire Elena Baturina and her husband, former Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, during a 2014 speakerphone conversation, according to Hunter Biden’s former business associate. He is said to have told her, “Be good to your son.” On Friday, he was interviewed in the House impeachment inquiry.
Jason Galanis, a federal prison inmate who defrauded American Indian tribes, was arrested on May 4, 2014, when the current vice president invited his son, business partner Devon Archer, and a Russian power couple. He said from an Alabama prison that he was invited to a party in southern Brooklyn.
“I was present when Hunter Biden called his father on his cell phone and put it on speaker. The call included Elena Baturina, an investor in the Rosemont project, and her husband, a former Moscow resident. Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and Devon Archer were present,” Galanis told council staff in testimony obtained by the Post.
“During the May 4th party, we were asked to gather in a corner of the restaurant because Hunter was scheduled to call his father. Mr. Hunter called his father and said hi, “Hold on, Pops.” Then I put the phone on speakerphone and said, “I’m here with a friend. You mentioned you were coming to town, so I wanted to say hi.”
“The vice president greeted us with a “hello,” “hope you have a safe journey,” and a few witty greetings before ending the call by saying “Thank you very much.” It seemed like he did.”
“Hunter replied, ‘Everything’s fine, we’re making progress.’ The vice president said something like, ‘Helpful,’ but Hunter said he would call his father later and didn’t call. I cut it.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Galanis’ prison interview in Montgomery, Alabama, in which he discussed Joe Biden’s alleged role in business ties between China and Ukraine. A new argument was also made.
The Post was able to find support for the convicted fraudster’s account.
Emails from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop show he was scheduled to attend ‘Birthday party at Romanoff Restaurant” May 4, 2014, 4:00 p.m.
A person familiar with the matter told The Post that it was a birthday party for Alex Kotralski’s daughter, who told the Post that Kotralski had sent Archer and Hunter Biden to the Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings. The company is notorious for paying his second son a salary of 20 million yen at the time. He will be paid up to $1 million a year starting April 2014, the month before the rally.
The newspaper could not confirm with other witnesses the exact words Joe Biden allegedly said at the Brooklyn party, or whether Biden made the call.
Baturina, who again escaped the Biden administration’s more than 500-person Russian sanctions list on Friday, reportedly attended two dinners with then-Vice President Biden at the Café Milano restaurant in Washington.
Archer said in July testimony to Congress that Baturina attended a 2014 dinner with Hunter’s Kazakh partner and the vice president.
The exact date the rally is said to have taken place is unknown.
Witnesses told the Post that Baturina and her husband, now deceased, also attended a dinner at Café Milano on April 16, 2015. A group from Kazakhstan and Vadim Pozharsky, an advisor to the board of directors of Ukrainian energy company Burisma, were also present. She sent an email the next day thanking Hunter for giving her the opportunity to meet her father.
For unknown reasons, Mr. Baturina transferred $3.5 million in February 2014 to a company run by Mr. Hunter and his colleague Devon Archer.
Archer told Congress in July that he didn’t know the reason for the transfers, but bank records show more than $2.75 million of them went to another entity, which Archer named Hunter Biden. It is said that he jointly owned it with Mr.
Archer testified that Baturina had separately invested nearly $120 million in his company, Rosemont Realty, and that Hunter Biden was also briefly involved with that company.
“I remember being surprised.”
“I remember being surprised by this call, hearing the vice president of the United States actually speaking on the phone,” Galanis told House investigators. It is clear to me that this is a pre-arranged phone call with his father, intended to impress on Russian investors that Hunter has access to all the power and prestige of his father and his position. was. ”
“Before this call, Hunter was sitting next to Elena Baturina at the table at this party and heard them talking about business matters in general,” he recalled.
“In the days after the May 4th party, emails provided to this committee by my attorney indicate that Mr. Baturina placed a ‘hard order’ of between $10 million and $20 million for a client of Burnham Investment Bank. “It shows that Mr. Devon has confirmed what he promised.” A company led by Archer Biden and Hunter Biden.
Mr. Hunter, now 54 years old, is said to have been vice chairman of Burnham Financial Group. trial testimony and abandoned laptop email.
court documents The company controlled Burnham Securities, which was the broker behind a $60 million bond rip-off that defrauded a South Dakota tribe and resulted in Galanis, 53, being sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Hunter Biden was not charged in the incident, but Archer was. indicted in 2016 He was convicted in 2018 by the Obama-Biden Justice Department and sentenced to one year in prison.
“Hunter and Devon will change your access forever.” Galanis wrote in October 2014: Partner with Michelle Morton plead guilty Federal charges stem from the 2018 incident, according to evidence presented in court proceedings.
New allegations regarding China and Ukraine
Galanis also submitted new charges to investigators regarding the Biden family’s ties to China and Ukraine.
Burnham, the financial group led by Archer and Hunter Biden, “reached an agreement with the Ukrainian oligarchy. [Burisma owner] Mykola Zlochevsky — invests $120 million in new Burnham
It’s real,” Galanis said.
“The financial agreement, documented by U.S. and Ukrainian lawyers, provided that Burnham’s partners would receive a 25% profit. Burnham’s partners were not required to contribute 25% of the capital. , Burnham was investing capital in Biden’s name in Kazakhstan, Mexico, and other foreign markets where governments sought oil concessions.
Galanis also said Joe Biden, as vice president, was known for his son’s role in an investment fund called BHR Partners, the first of two major Chinese state-related businesses in which the family was involved. This suggests that he may have been more involved than he actually was.
“We were interested in this partnership because of the innovative value-add of the Biden family, including Joe Biden, who was scheduled to be part of the Burnham Harvest team,” executive Henry Chao said in a statement.
As vice president, I will provide you with political access in the United States and around the world,” Galanis said.
“I remember being with Hunter Biden and Devon Archer at the Peninsula Bar in New York, where Hunter received a call from his father. He told his father that things were going well between Henry and Harvest. , I told them I might need a little help getting across the finish line.”
“As we were at this bar, Hunter did not put the call on speaker, but I am confident that Hunter was discussing our business efforts regarding the Burnham and Harvest partnership and that the Vice President was aware of these efforts. are doing.”
Archer previously told Congress in July that then-Vice President Biden had coffee with Jonathan Lee, the incoming chief executive of BHR Partners, during a visit to Beijing in 2013.
Archer said Joe Biden then greeted Lee on speakerphone and wrote college recommendation letters for his children.
Rob Walker, another business partner in the Biden family, said on January 26 that the first tranche of $3 million in funding from another Chinese company, CEFC China Energy, flowed to Biden in March 2017. Joe testified that about a third of the money went to the Biden family immediately after. Biden met with CEFC Chairman Ye Jianming at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington, DC.
Walker said the funding is a “thank you” for past service in a relationship that began in 2015 when Joe Biden was still vice president.
