Corrupt Romanian Paid Biden Family $1 Million as Joe Biden Pushed Anti-Corruption Measures in Romania
According to an investigation by the House Oversight Committee, a Romanian businessman charged in a bribery scheme wired more than $1 million to Hunter Biden and other members of the Biden family while then-vice president Joe Biden was preaching anti-corruption measures in Romania. The businessman, Gabriel Popoviciu, wired over $3 million to the account of Rob Walker, a longtime Biden associate, between November 2015 and May 2017. Walker then wired $1,038,627 to the accounts of Hunter Biden, his uncle Jim Biden, and his late brother's widow, Hallie Biden. Sixteen of these wire payments were made while Joe Biden was in office.
This is not the first time that foreign nationals have paid Hunter Biden during his father's tenure at the White House. Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company investigated for bribery, hired Hunter Biden to serve on its board of directors in 2014, when Joe Biden was in charge of anti-corruption initiatives in Ukraine.
Republicans have called on the Justice Department to investigate what they describe as a massive money-laundering operation, where more than $10 million in foreign money was funneled to the Biden family through a network of shell companies. In addition to the Popoviciu wires, Republicans highlighted millions of dollars in wire transfers to Biden family entities from the Chinese energy conglomerate CEFC China Energy.
Republicans have criticized Joe Biden for publicly pressuring Romanian leaders on corruption while his son was taking millions from a scandal-plagued businessman. The younger Biden and his associates began working for Popoviciu in 2015, as he faced an investigation for fraud and bribery. Hunter Biden recruited former FBI director Louis Freeh, a longtime family friend, to work on the case, and Freeh leaned on his FBI contacts, State Department officials, and Romanian officials to intervene in the case.
Popoviciu was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2017 on charges of fraud and bribery.
The Oversight Committee subpoenaed bank records as part of its investigation into the Biden family's foreign business deals. Committee chairman James Comer plans to subpoena additional bank documents as the investigation moves into a "new phase."
Republicans are also investigating Hunter Biden's relationship with Vuk Jeremić, a former Serbian foreign minister who worked for CEFC China Energy. Jeremić contacted Biden in December 2015 to arrange a meeting with CEFC chairman Ye Jianming, and State Energy HK, a subsidiary of CEFC, made $3 million in "suspect donations" to Jeremić's Serbia-based think tank, the Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development, in 2015 and 2016. State Energy HK in 2017 wired $3 million to Rob Walker's company, of which around $1 million was wired to Biden family accounts.
Hunter Biden arranged for Jeremić to meet his father's then-national security adviser, Colin Kahl, in June 2016 as Jeremić sought support for his campaign for United Nations secretary general. Jeremić and Hunter Biden both worked with Patrick Ho, a CEFC executive who was convicted in 2018 of attempting to bribe African officials for oil drilling rights. CEFC paid Biden $1 million to provide legal services to Ho.
Republicans said that Jeremić declined to cooperate with the Oversight Committee but that they intend to obtain documents from Jeremić about his relationship with CEFC, Hunter Biden, and Kahl.
