The Bidens pocketed $1M from ‘corrupt’ Romanian oligarch just as VP Joe lectured country on ethics
WASHINGTON — The House Oversight Committee revealed Wednesday that more than $1 million flowed from a corrupt Romanian businessman to the Biden family while then-Vice President Joe Biden paid lip service to clean up corruption in the Eastern European nation.
“While Vice President Biden was lecturing Romania on anti-corruption policy, in reality, he was a walking billboard for his son and family to collect money,” committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said at a morning press conference.
Comer, flanked by other committee members, vowed that the panel would get to the bottom of President Biden’s involvement in the Romanian income and ventures in nations such as China, Russia, and Ukraine with more subpoenas for bank and other records.
“We’ve never seen a presidential family receive these sums of money from adversaries around the world — we’re just talking about a couple of countries today,” Comer said.
The press conference focused on transfers to the Biden family from China and Romania — two countries where Joe Biden helped lead US policy during the Obama-Biden administration.
“I want to be clear: This committee is investigating President Biden and his family’s shady business deals that capitalize on Joe Biden’s public office and risked our country’s national security … We believe that the president has been involved in this from the very beginning, obviously,” Comer said.
“It would be hard for me to believe that Hunter Biden was so charismatic that he could convince foreign nationals to wire millions of dollars into not just his account but eight of his family members’ accounts,” he added. “We believe that there was a return on the investment.”
Hunter Biden’s association with Romanian businessman Gabriel Popoviciu is one of the Biden family’s lesser-known engagements with dodgy associates in countries where Joe Biden held sway as vice president.
In a 36-page memo Wednesday morning, the House committee cited subpoenaed bank records to describe how $3 million allegedly was transferred from Popoviciu’s Bladon Enterprises to Robinson Walker LLC — controlled by Hunter’s business partner Rob Walker — between November 2015 and May 2017.
Of the $3 million, the memo says roughly one-third — $1,038,627.08 — was transferred to bank accounts belonging to Hunter Biden, first daughter-in-law Hallie Biden, and an unnamed Biden family member.
The Romanian distribution mirrors a similar division of a roughly $3 million in early 2017 from Chinese firm CEFC China Energy, about a third of which was shared among Hunter, Hallie, first brother James Biden and an unidentified Biden, according to an Oversight Committee memo from March
“The DOJ needs to get off its ass and investigate,” said Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC). “We’ve done the work for them so they can’t screw it up.”
“The Biden family doesn’t really have a business,” chimed in Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.). “There is no business structure around this family except politics.”
“Guys, you in the press, this is easy pickings,” Donalds said after describing a maze of 16 Biden-associated LLCs that allegedly received foreign funds. “I’m giving you Pulitzer stuff.”
Comer concluded the press conference by identifying nine Biden family members who allegedly got foreign funds.
The unidentified Biden account or accounts that received the Romanian proceeds got $80,000 over four transactions, the memo said.
After the prior committee memo noting an unidentified Biden received CEFC proceeds, Hunter Biden’s legal team issued a statement denying anyone other than the three named Bidens were paid.
Hallie Biden received $10,000 from Walker’s firm — apparently from the Romanian income — in February 2017, according to the memo, clarifying the purpose of a payment referenced in the March document.
Hallie, the widow of Joe Biden’s late son Beau, received $25,000 in apparent proceeds from CEFC transfers later that same year.
“The Romanian transactions show evidence of influence peddling and a correlation between Biden family and their business associates’ work and then Vice President Biden’s responsibilities while in office,” the new memo says.
“The Committee is concerned about the Biden family’s pattern of courting business in regions of the world in which the then Vice President had an outsize role and influenced U.S. policy.”
Hunter Biden began working for Popoviciu in 2015 as he faced prosecution on corruption charges in his home country.
At some point, the then-second son arranged a separate side agreement with the tycoon outside of his law firm, Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, through which he also worked with the businessman.
A person familiar with the arrangement told The Post in August of last year that the side deal with Popoviciu netted Hunter and his associates “millions.”
It’s unclear how much money Hunter Biden made through his work for Popoviciu within the confines of Boies Schiller.
“This is simply not how legal fees are paid,” Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) said of the $3 million wired from Popoviciu apparently outside of the law firm relationship. “I spent 10 years collecting legal fees … it makes absolutely no sense,” Armstrong said.
Popoviciu, convicted of bribery in 2016, has attracted notice in the US because of the timing of interactions with Hunter.
In one instance, former FBI Director Louis Freeh — whom Hunter tapped to work on Popoviciu’s defense — called the younger Biden in July 2015, just two hours before Hunter was scheduled to meet with his dad, according to emails from the first son’s abandoned laptop.
Hunter also flew to Romania on Nov. 15, 2016, for a two-day trip to represent Popoviciu before the country’s National Anticorruption Directorate.
The then-second son was booked for “breakfast with dad” two days after his return.
The White House and Hunter Biden’s legal team did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment on Wednesday.
The Oversight Committee memo — released hours ahead of a noon deadline for the FBI to turn over a document alleging President Biden took bribes while vice president — also slams dubious White House denials that the Bidens received money from China, providing actual screenshots of bank transfers.
The memo notes that in May 2014, Joe Biden “visited Romania and delivered a speech addressed to the Romanian Prime Minister, judges, prosecutors, and leaders of the parliament,” saying in part:
“Corruption is a cancer, a cancer that eats away at a citizen’s faith in democracy, diminishes the instinct for innovation and creativity; already-tight national budgets, crowding out important national investments. It wastes the talent of entire generations. It scares away investments and jobs. And most importantly it denies the people their dignity. It saps the collective strength and resolves of a nation. Corruption is just another form of tyranny.”
The memo also notes that in September 2015, Joe Biden “welcomed Romanian President Klaus Iohannis to the White House.”
An Obama-Biden administration statement on the meeting said that Biden “welcomed President Iohannis’ focus on anti-corruption efforts and rule of law as a means to strengthen national security and promote greater investment and economic growth.” Iohannis said Biden “voiced satisfaction over Romania’s progress with the fight against corruption.”
The Oversight Committee memo notes that “[w]ithin five weeks of this meeting, Bladon Enterprises Limited (Bladon Enterprises) began making deposits into Robinson Walker, LLC’s bank account.”
The Justice Department reportedly is nearing a final decision on whether to charge Hunter Biden with tax fraud and other alleged crimes.
Hunter’s attorneys met with DOJ lawyers on April 26 in Washington in what could be a final step before a charging decision.
President Biden, meanwhile, was spotted Sunday with his younger brother James Biden, who partnered with Hunter in many of his overseas relationships.
Among the first family’s better-known international dealings, Hunter Biden earned up to $1 million per year serving on the board of Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma between 2014 and 2019, beginning while his father led the Obama administration’s Ukraine policy.
