WASHINGTON — Hunter Biden lobbied U.S. officials and tried to support a corrupt Romanian client while his father was vice president, Special Counsel David Weiss’s office said in a filing Wednesday, but nonetheless said those possible criminal violations were “unrelated” to his eldest son’s tax evasion trial next month.
Hunter, 54, is scheduled to go on trial in Los Angeles from Sept. 9 on charges he failed to pay $1.4 million in taxes on income he made from transactions with China, Romania and Ukraine between 2016 and 2019.
Weiss’ complaint alleges that Gabriel Popoviciu, a Romanian businessman convicted of bribery in his home country in 2016, used Hunter and his associates “to attempt to influence U.S. government agencies to investigate a Romanian criminal investigation.” [Popoviciu]and thereby bring the investigation to an end.”
Hunter Biden and two business partners created false business documents to cover their tracks in order to avoid invoking the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), which requires registration and disclosure of lobbying activities on behalf of certain overseas clients. According to court documents.
“[T]Defendant [Hunter Biden] “His business partners contacted government officials, specifically the U.S. Department of State,” the new documents state.
Hunter’s business partner, Rob Walker, said: [the] “They are attempting to maintain business relationships in order to avoid registering as foreign agents,” the filing said.
The business structure was based on lies and featured a “management services agreement,” the filing states.[Walker’s] The entities purported to provide management services for real estate properties in Romania, but in fact did not do so. [Popoviciu] I had paid.
“In reality, [Walker] and [Popoviciu] Agreed [Walker] Get paid for your work [Walker], [Hunter Biden]and [Hunter’s partner James Gilliar]He tried to encourage U.S. government agencies to look into the Romanian investigation. [Popoviciu]and [Walker] About 1/3 passes [Hunter Biden] As his fee, and about 1/3 [Gilliar] As compensation for him.”
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Despite evidence of FARA violations,[t]”The presentation of that evidence does not mean the government will also address allegations that defendants violated FARA or had improper contacts with government officials; such allegations are irrelevant to the charges in this tax lawsuit,” Weiss wrote.
Bank records obtained by Republican lawmakers last year showed that Popoviciu’s Bradon Enterprises transferred $3 million to Walker’s Robinson Walker LLC between November 2015 and May 2017.
Approximately one-third of the money, $1,038,627.08, was transferred to the bank accounts of Hunter Biden and Hallie Biden, the widow of Hunter’s brother Beau and Hunter’s then-girlfriend, who had received $10,000 (presumably from Romanian earnings) from Walker’s company in February 2017.
The new complaint does not say whether Hunter approached Popoviciu’s biological father on his behalf, but some of their recorded communications raise suspicions.
For example, Hunter Biden introduced Popoviciu to former FBI Director Louis Freeh.
According to records from a laptop left behind by Hunter, Freeh called Hunter in July 2015, just two hours before Hunter was scheduled to meet with his father.
Hunter flew to Romania on November 15, 2016, for a two-day trip representing Popoviciu at the National Anti-Corruption Bureau.
Hunter had “breakfast with Dad” two days after returning home.
Joe Biden, who was vice president at the time, had railed against corruption in Romania.
Joe Biden visited Romania in May 2014 and addressed the country’s government leaders, telling them, “Corruption is a cancer, a cancer that eats away at people’s faith in our democracy.”
In September 2015, Joe Biden hosted Romanian President Klaus Iohannis at the White House.
According to an official US statement, the suspects are “focused on combating corruption and promoting the rule of law as a means to strengthen national security and promote investment and economic growth.”
Biden’s main political opponent, former President Donald Trump, likened Hunter to a “vacuum cleaner” who followed his father to countries known for corruption.
Hunter ‘did very little work’ for Ukraine and Chinese cash
Weiss’s office said it plans to focus Hunter’s tax trial on two other business relationships: his role at Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings, where he joined the board in early 2014 as his father was leading the Obama administration’s Kiev policy, and his significant income from CEFC China Energy.
“The evidence will show that the defendants received millions of dollars and did very little work in exchange,” the new prosecutors’ complaint states. [Burisma and CEFC].”
Hunter, who earns up to $1 million a year as a director of Burisma, introduced his father to Vadim Pozharsky, counsel to the county board of directors, on April 17, 2015.
Joe Biden also had contact with Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, who is described in laptop documents and by former business associates as a “major shareholder” in a Burisma subsidiary where Hunter is chairman.
The CEFC’s role also involved future presidents.
Joe Biden was set to take a 10% cut in a proposed joint venture with CEFC, a Chinese government-backed company, in May 2017. The joint venture paid more than $7 million to entities with ties to Hunter Biden and his uncle, James Biden, shortly after they left the vice presidency in 2017.
On January 26, Walker testified to a House committee that Joe Biden attended a lunch meeting with CEFC Chairman Ye Jianming in early 2017. Shortly before that, the initial $3 million was transferred to a group of Biden family partners, with more than a third of it going to Hunter and his brother James Biden.
Walker said the funds were earmarked for identifying business opportunities under the Obama-Biden administration.
The state-run CEFC then transferred $5.1 million to entities linked to Hunter Biden’s brother James Biden and Hunter within 10 days of a threatening text message in July 2017, in which Hunter warned an associate in China that “I’m sitting here with my father.”
Photos on Hunter’s laptop show he was at his father’s home in Wilmington, Delaware that day.
Critics of the Biden family have long alleged that Hunter Biden and his uncle James ignored the Foreign Agents Registration Act in various foreign business relationships.
Recognizing the potential legal and political risks of a FARA charge, Hunter last July waived a probation-only plea deal on federal tax and firearms offenses, ignoring the court’s request for a broader immunity that would include any FARA violations his father may have committed.
Hunter was convicted of three federal firearms offenses on June 11 and is scheduled to be sentenced on November 13.
You could face lengthy prison sentences for violating FARA.
Trump’s 2016 campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, in 2018 60 months in prison for violating FARA In addition to the prison term related to his work in Ukraine, he faces an additional 30 months on charges of tax evasion, bank fraud and witness tampering.
Because FARA lawsuits generally must be filed within five years of a violation, many of Hunter’s best-known actions, including connecting his father, who was vice president at the time, with foreign associates, may not be prosecuted.
Congressional investigations have uncovered evidence that Joe Biden interacted with associates of Hunter and James Biden’s two Chinese government-linked business companies, as well as their patrons in Kazakhstan, Mexico, Russia and Ukraine, as well as many of their domestic associates.
Joe Biden has consistently maintained that he has “never” discussed business with his son or brother, despite photos, emails and witness accounts indicating otherwise, and said in December and again in March that he “has no interaction” with their partners.
The political significance of Hunter Biden’s alleged crimes and his role in his father’s foreign dealings was significantly diminished by Biden’s decision on July 21 to withdraw from campaigning for a second term.
