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Hunter Biden prosecutors make bombshell claim he was hired by a Romanian oligarch to influence the U.S. government
Hunter Biden was hired by a Romanian oligarch in an 'attempt to influence U.S. government agencies,' earning around $1 million for work that was structured to avoid 'political ramifications' for Joe Biden, who was then vice president.
The bombshell claim was revealed in court filings on Wednesday tied to the younger Biden's federal tax case. And it marks the closest prosecutors have come to tying President Biden to his son's overseas business deals.
Gabriel Popoviciu, a real estate tycoon, was facing bribery and corruption charges in his home country. In an attempt to avoid the charges, Popoviciu hired Hunter Biden and his business associates in late 2015 to help his case.
Hunter, however, was 'concerned that lobbying work might cause political ramifications' for his father, so the deal was structured in a way that 'concealed the true nature of the work he was performing.'
President Joe Biden with his sister Valerie Owens and son Hunter Biden
Prosecutors allege, in order to avoid the Foreign Agents Registration Act, Hunter and Popoviciu signed an agreement where Hunter's law firm would 'provide management services to real estate properties in Romania.'
But 'that was not actually' what Popoviciu was paying for. He and Hunter had a 'oral' agreement on what Hunter Biden would actually do – influence U.S. agencies on the tycoon's behalf.
The deal was structured to avoid FARA because Hunter was concerned about 'political ramifications' for his father, the documents state. In 2016, Biden was vice president and weighing a presidential bid, which he ultimately did not pursue until the 2020 election.
Under the FARA law, the Justice Department requires any American doing lobbying business for a foreign government to register as a foreign agent.
Hunter structured the deal in an effort to avoid have to register, even though he and his business partners did reach out to government officials, specifically the United States Department of State.'
Hunter Biden's law firm received $3.1 million for the deal with Hunter taking about one-third of that money, the documents state.
Ultimately Popoviciu was found guilty in 2016 of bribing a university official to buy a 550-acre plot of government-owned land in a cut-price deal.
Prosecutors in special counsel David Weiss' office have been investigating Hunter Biden's work with foreign entities and whether Hunter should have registered his overseas work.
But he 'performed almost no work in exchange for the millions of dollars he received' from Popoviciu, a Chinese energy company, or Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company, the documents allege.
Gabriel Popoviciu, a real estate tycoon in Romania, hired Hunter
Hunter Biden served on the board of Burisma Holdings Ltd., an oil and gas company in Ukraine, from May 2014 and left in April 2019, from the time his father served as vice president until he began running for president.
He and his business associates also did work for Chinese companies like State Energy HK Ltd. and CEFC China Energy Co. Ltd.
A document filed with Hunter Biden's rejected plea agreement said in 2017 he earned 'just under $1 million' from a company he formed with a Chinese CEO, $664,000 from a Chinese infrastructure company and $500,000 in director's fees from Burisma.
Republicans on Capitol Hill have repeatedly tried to tie Joe Biden to Hunter's work.
The president has said multiple times he had no involvement in his son's business affairs.
Hunter Biden faces three felony tax charges and additional misdemeanors for allegedly failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes from 2016 to 2020
Hunter, who was convicted on gun charges earlier this summer, faces a September trial tied to his taxes.
The president's son faces three felony tax charges and additional misdemeanors for allegedly failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes from 2016 to 2020. The back taxes and penalties were previously paid in full by a third party by Hunter Biden's attorney Kevin Morris.