Last modified on October 3, 2023, at 04:28

Biden-Burisma scandal

Obama (left) appointed Joe Biden (center) to dole out $1 Billion to the Ukraine for which the Biden Family, thru Hunter Biden (right) received $50,000 a month in kickbacks.[1]

The Biden-Burisma scandal relates to the influence peddling, bribery, and money-laundering of former Obama Vice President Joe Biden and acceptance of $10 million on behalf of himself and his family from a Ukrainian oligarch in bribes.[2]

Joe Biden's son Beau died in May 2015, causing him to postpone his decision on whether to run in the 2016 presidential race. His polling numbers against Sec. Hillary Clinton were weak in August. On October 21 he announced that he would not run for president.[3] The New York Times reported details of the scandal in December 2015.[4]

Joe Biden was the Obama administration's point-person on policy towards Ukraine. Biden traveled to Ukraine 17 times during his tenure as vice president. Biden steered $1.8 billion in aid to the Ukrainian government. Four months later while his son, Hunter Biden got a sweetheart deal with Burisma, an energy company. In a 14-month period Burisma paid $3.1 million into an account where Hunter Biden was getting paid. U.S. banking records show Hunter Biden's firm, Rosemont Seneca Partners LLC, received regular transfers — usually more than $166,000 a month — from Burisma from spring 2014 through fall 2015, during a period when Joe Biden was the main U.S. official dealing with Ukraine. Biden used U.S. taxpayer government resources for the personal gain of his family.[5]

In early 2019 Ukraine prosecutors wanted to present evidence to Attorney General William Barr regarding Joe Biden's interference and threats in a corruption probe involving his son, Hunter Biden.[6]

Vice President Biden bragged to the Council on Foreign Relations to have caused the firing of a Ukraine prosecutor who was leading a wide-ranging corruption probe into Burisma, a natural gas firm that employed Biden's younger son, Hunter Biden, as a board member.[7] In April 2014 Hunter Biden joined the board of Burisma in April 2014 despite having no experience in the oil and gas industry.[8] In December 2015 The New York Times reported on Joe Biden, His Son and the Case Against a Ukrainian Oligarch. The story focused on Hunter Biden, Burisma Holdings, and its owner, Mykola Zlochevsky, who was Ukraine's ecology minister under former President Victor Yanukovych.[9]

Hunter Biden received one payment of $3 million which was laundered through Latvia and Cyprus to the U.S.. When the prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, asked Cyprus for the amount going to Biden's son, he was told the U.S. embassy instructed them not to provide the amount. Hunter's boss, Mykola Zlochevsky, had stolen $5 Billion from Ukraine and was a fugitive at the time.[10] The prosecutor was tracking the money. Hunter continued to received monthly kickbacks.

Biden threatened Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko that the Obama administration would pull $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees, sending Ukraine toward insolvency, if it didn't immediately fire Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin who was investigating his son, Hunter. Biden recounted,

"'You’re not getting the billion'. I’m going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours. I looked at them and said: ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money'...Well, [SOB], he got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time."[11][12]

Yuriy Lutsenko, who replaced Shokin as the prosecutor looking into Burisma, said the evidence in the Burisma case he'd like to present to William Barr, particularly the vice president's intervention.[13]

Between April 2014 and October 2015, more than $3 million was paid out by Burisma to an account linked to Biden's and Devon Archer's Rosemont Seneca firm, according to the financial records placed in a federal court file in Manhattan in another case against Archer. The bank records show that, on most months when Burisma money flowed, two wire transfers of $83,333.33 each were sent to the Rosemont Seneca–connected account on the same day. The same Rosemont Seneca–linked account typically then paid Hunter Biden one or more payments ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 each. Ukrainian prosecutors reviewed internal company documents and wanted to interview Hunter Biden and Archer about why they had received such payments, but couldn't because of Joe Biden's intervention.[14]

In a text message from Hunter Biden to his sister Naomi, Hunter said that their "Pop" takes 50% of his salary.[15]

Archer was convicted in Manhattan Federal Court for the fraudulent issuance and sale of more than $60 Million of tribal bonds.[16]

Burisma oil and gas

The Biden-Burisma connections.[17]

The ouster of President Yanukovych put the founder and president of Burisma oil and gas, Mykola Zlochevsky, in a delicate spot. Zlochevsky had served as the environment minister under Yanukovych, handing out gas licenses to cronies. Having watched the president flee Ukraine for his life, currying favor with the Obama administration was paramount for Zlochevsky.

In the spring of 2014, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office opened an investigation at the behest of the UK prosecutors office, which was investigating money laundering allegations against its owner, former Ukrainian Ecology Minister Nikolai Zlochevsky (also known as Mykola Zlochevsky) and had just frozen $23.5 million in assets allegedly belonging to him in early April 2014. On April 18, 2014, Biden's son, Hunter Biden was appointed to the board of directors of Burisma.[18] According to The Hill Biden's firm, Rosemont Seneca Partners, was receiving regular payments—“usually more than $166,000 a month”—from Burisma. The payments ran from the spring of 2014 through the fall of 2015 and reportedly totaled more than $3 million.

During a May 13, 2014, press conference, Matt Lee of the Associated Press grilled State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki about Hunter Biden's role on Burisma's board.

Lee: “Does this building diplomatically have any concerns about potential perceptions of conflict or cronyism – which is what you’ve often accused the Russians of doing?”
Paski: “No, he’s a private citizen."[19]

According to The Hill Biden's firm, Rosemont Seneca Partners, was receiving regular payments—“usually more than $166,000 a month”—from Burisma. The payments ran from the spring of 2014 through the fall of 2015 and reportedly totaled more than $3 million. The Hill article included a written answer from Shokin, who said his investigation into Burisma had included plans for “interrogations and other crime-investigation procedures into all members of the executive board, including Hunter Biden.”

Burisma leadership meeting with Obama appointee Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch in October 2018.

In August 2014, the Zlochevsky was forced to follow Yanukovych into exile after being accused of illegally enriching himself. The need to refurbish Burisma's tattered image, as well as his own, prompted Zlochevsky to resort to forking over large sums of money to win friends in Washington, D.C.. Hunter Biden and the Atlantic Council were soon to become two of his best friends. Hunter Biden also held a position at the National Democratic Institute, a U.S.-funded “democracy promotion” organization that was heavily involved in pushing regime change in Ukraine. Burisma handed him a position on its board despite his lack of experience in the energy industry and in Ukrainian affairs. Hunter Biden enlisted the D.C. law firm, Boies, Schiller, and Flexner, where he served as co-counsel, to help “improve [Burisma’s] corporate governance.” By the following January 2015, Zlochevsky's assets were unfrozen by the U.K.[20] This action was pointedly called out in a speech by U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, who stated,

“In the case of former Ecology Minister Mykola Zlochevsky, the U.K. authorities had seized $23 million in illicit assets that belonged to the Ukrainian people.”,[21] Instead of receiving cooperation from Ukrainian prosecutors, they “sent letters to Zlochevsky’s attorneys attesting that there was no case against him. As a result, the money was freed by the U.K. court, and shortly thereafter the money was moved to Cyprus.”

On Feb. 10, 2015, Viktor Shokin was appointed as the Prosecutor General of the Ukraine and he picked up the investigation into Burisma, which reportedly continued until his removal in February 2016.[22] Shokin said his investigation into Burisma had included plans for “interrogations and other crime-investigation procedures into all members of the executive board, including Hunter Biden.”

In a December 2015 op-ed, the editorial board of The New York Times took both Bidens to task for the unseemly business arrangement:

“It should be plain to Hunter Biden that any connection with a Ukrainian oligarch damages his father’s efforts to help Ukraine. This is not a board he should be sitting on.”[23]

Hunter Biden maintained that he had only a brief conversation with his father about his work at Burisma. Hunter recalled to The New Yorker:

“Dad said, ‘I hope you know what you are doing,’ and I said, ‘I do.’[24]

Despite his constant focus on Ukraine, the Joe Biden claimed in September 2019 that he never spoke to his son about his business dealings in the country.[25]

Devon Archer (left), Joe Biden (right).[26]

Rosemont Seneca Partners

Hunter Biden, Joe Biden's son, and Christopher Heinz, John Kerry stepson, formed Rosemont Seneca Partners, a private equity firm in 2009 with their friend, Devon Archer. The three friends established a series of related LLCs.[27] It was anchored to Rosemont Capital, the alternative investment fund of the Heinz family fortune.[28] The fund grew quickly. According to an email revealed as part of a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation, Rosemont described themselves as “a $2.4 billion private equity firm co-owned by Hunter Biden and Chris Heinz,” with Devon Archer as “Managing Partner.”[29]

Ukraine

Hunter Biden meeting with President Obama in the Oval Office.
Official White House Photograph

In December 2015 The New York Times reported on Joe Biden, His Son and the Case Against a Ukrainian Oligarch. The story focuses on Hunter Biden, Burisma Holdings, and its owner, Mykola Zlochevsky, who was Ukraine's ecology minister under former President Viktor F. Yanukovych before he became a fugitive.[30]

U.S. banking records show Hunter Biden's American-based firm, Rosemont Seneca Partners LLC, received regular transfers into one of its accounts — usually more than $166,000 a month — from Burisma from spring 2014 through fall 2015, during a period when Vice President Biden was the main U.S. official dealing with Ukraine and its tense relations with Russia. Vice President Joe Biden threatens Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko that the Obama administration would pull $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees, sending the former Soviet republic toward insolvency, if it didn't immediately fire Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin who was investigating his son, Hunter Biden, on the board of the Ukrainian oil and gas company Burisma Holdings. Joe Biden recounted, "'You’re not getting the billion'. I’m going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours. I looked at them and said: ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money...Well, [SOB], he got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time."[31][32]

The status of an independent Ukraine became the focus of much fake news reporting by the Washington Post to drive a wedge between President Donald Trump's efforts to improve relations with the Russian Federation following the disastrous foreign policy of President Barack Obama, which created a "zone of chaos" throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and the Caucus region.

China

Five months into the Obama administration in June 2009 Hunter Biden and Chris Heinz, stepson of Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair John Kerry formed Rosemount Seneca. The firm partnered with the Thornton Group run by Devon Archer, and the Bank of China, to form Bohai Harvest RST (BHR) in China. Devon Archer is the nephew of Whitey Bulger, head of the Boston Irish mafia who enjoyed federal protection under FBI director Robert Mueller as an informant.[33] Bulger was convicted of 19 murders that occurred while under Mueller's protection; some have linked the Bulger klan to as many as 52 murders while Mueller ran the Boston FBI field office.[34] The Bank of China is owned by the Chinese government and closely connected with the Chinese military and intelligence services. Biden, Heinz, and Archer transferred and sold "duel use" technology to the Chinese military which was used to create the Chinese drone program and replicate the Chinese version of the F-15 fighter.[35]

Bohai Harvest RST (BHR) invested in an app the Chinese leftwing communist government is using to surveil ethnic minority Muslims in western China. Over one million Muslims living in the region are now incarcerated in Chinese gulags.

Senate investigation

Senate investigators concluded,

Hunter Biden with meth pipe.[36]
The records acquired by the Committees show that Hunter Biden and his family were involved in a vast financial network that connected them to foreign nationals and foreign governments across the globe. Hunter Biden and Archer, in particular, formed significant and consistent financial relationships with the corrupt oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky during their time working for Burisma and their firms made millions of dollars from that association while Joe Biden was vice president and the public face of the Obama administration’s Ukraine policy. Rosemont Seneca Thornton, an investment firm co-founded by Hunter Biden, received $3.5 million in a wire transfer from Elena Baturina, who allegedly received illegal construction contracts from her husband, the former mayor of Moscow. Moreover, Archer’s apparent receipt of money for a car from Kenges Rakishev of Kazakhstan while Vice President Biden was in Kyiv is especially concerning in light of the timing. And finally, Biden and Archer’s work with Chinese nationals connected to the Communist regime illustrate the deep financial connections that accelerated while his father was vice president and continued after he left office.

Biden and Archer found willing partners in Chinese nationals connected to the Communist regime. Their work in China began at least in 2009, with the creation of Rosemont Seneca Partners with Heinz, Secretary of State John Kerry’s stepson. Then, several years later, Biden and Archer formed BHR with Bohai Capital and received their business license approval in China shortly after Biden visited China with his father, Vice President Biden.

Hunter Biden’s connections and financial associations appear to have accelerated significantly after he associated himself with Ye Jianming, who had deep connections with the Communist regime and PLA. However, that didn’t seem to have any impact on Hunter Biden, who made millions from the relationship. Indeed, Hunter Biden and his family, to include James and Sara Biden, associated with other Chinese nationals such as Gongwen Dong. In one case, the three of them went on a $100,000 global spending spree after Gongwen Dong and Hunter Biden opened a joint account. In addition, Hunter Biden received millions of dollars over a period of years from Gongwen Dong’s companies. According to records acquired by the Committees, many of these transactions involved potential criminal financial activity.[37]

The $3.5 million from the wife of the Moscow mayor was payment for $200 million money laundering scheme to circumvent the Magnitsky Act.[38] No record of Hunter Biden filing as a lobbyist or agent of a foreign power under the FARA Act exists.[39]

Democrat collusion

On September 4, 2019, former Prosecutor General Victor Shokin made a sworn affidavit outlining Joe Biden's shakedown.[40] Sen. Chris Murphy, while travelling to the Ukraine, delivered a quid pro quo message to Ukrainian President Volodoymr Zelensky:[41] if the Ukrainian government co-operates with the U.S. Justice Department investigating DNC/Ukrainian collision and interference in the 2016 presidential election, Congressional Democrats will withhold funding aid.[42]

Democrat operative Alexandra Chalupa (left) Deep State informant Eric Ciaramella (right).[43]

A whistleblower complaint by Eric Ciaramella addressed to Sen. Richard Burr and Rep. Adam Schiff was marked "urgent concern" alleging collusion between President Trump and President Zelensky.[44] The Intelligence community Inspector General (ISIG) and Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) determined the complaint was not of "urgent concern" and DNI James McGuire acted properly.[45] The Dept. of Justice Office of Legal Counsel strongly rebuked ICIG Michael Atkinson’s original granting whistleblower status based on hearsay. interpretation of his responsibility with the complaint. In the OLC opinion, they point out that Atkinson’s internal justification for accepting the whistleblower complaint was poor legal judgement.

The whistleblower complaint was fabricated to deliver an outcome in the same way the Steele Dossier was fabricated to deliver an outcome. Lee Smith explains in The New York Post that 'Trump-Ukraine' became necessary because the Trump-Russia ‘obstruction’ failed. What Democrats and their fake news media allies really want is to torpedo Attorney General William Barr’s probe into the origins of the Russian collusion hoax. The whistleblower complaint and news reports of a call to Australia both serve the same dual-purpose: to ­advance the anti-Trump conspiracy and to shield its perpetrators by smearing Barr and discrediting his investigation into the origins of Spygate.

The whistleblower’s written complaint, based entirely on hearsay, presents Trump’s request that the Ukrainian leader work with Barr to “get to the bottom” of the collusion hoax as part of the alleged quid pro quo. That suggests the whistleblower and his confreres in the ­intelligence apparatus are worried about Barr's investigation and what it will ­uncover about their spying on the Trump campaign. The FBI's investigation began in July 2016, based on a tip from Alexander Downer, then Australia's envoy to Britain. He alleged that Trump volunteer George Papadopoulos told him that the Russians had damaging ­information on Clinton.

Barr is interested in Joseph Mifsud. The Rome-based academic went into hiding two years ago. Well known to Italian and other Western intelligence services, Mifsud is alleged to have told Papadopoulos about Russia possessing dirt on Clinton. If Mifsud is a Russian agent, as former FBI director James Comey and Robert Mueller alleged, NATO countries will spend years assessing the damage. If he isn't, it's evidence that Comey's FBI wasn't investigating the Trump campaign — but running a sting operation against it.[46]

References

  1. ↑ https://thefederalist.com/2019/09/23/like-russian-collusion-ukraine-hysteria-is-pure-projection-by-media-and-democrats/
    https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/21/trump-ukraine-biden-1507051
  2. ↑ FBI summary of confidential human source's meeting with Burisma executives.
  3. ↑ https://www.cnn.com/2015/10/21/politics/joe-biden-not-running-2016-election/index.html
  4. ↑ https://archive.is/EyhQ7
  5. ↑ https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/04/03/exclusive-peter-schweizer-joe-biden-steered-1-8-billion-to-ukraine-while-his-son-bagged-sweetheart-deal-from-their-government/#
  6. ↑ https://pjmedia.com/trending/ukrainian-officials-claim-to-have-evidence-of-democrats-colluding-with-ukraine-in-2016-election/
  7. ↑ https://burisma-group.com/eng/director/hunter-biden/
  8. ↑ http://www.dw.com/en/who-are-hunter-bidens-ukrainian-bosses/a-17642254
  9. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/09/world/europe/corruption-ukraine-joe-biden-son-hunter-biden-ties.html
  10. ↑ https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tanyakozyreva/ukraines-ousted-regime-made-40-billion-disappear-and-no
  11. ↑ https://www.cfr.org/event/foreign-affairs-issue-launch-former-vice-president-joe-biden
  12. ↑ https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/436816-joe-bidens-2020-ukrainian-nightmare-a-closed-probe-is-revived
  13. ↑ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48268762
  14. ↑ https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/giuliani-ukrainians-brought-me-substantial-evidence-of-collusion-with-hillary-clinton-other-top-democrats
  15. ↑ https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/10/rudy-giuliani-releases-text-message-hunter-biden-daughter-naomi-unlike-pop-joe-biden-wont-make-give-half-salary-video/
  16. ↑ https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/three-convicted-manhattan-federal-court-fraudulent-issuance-and-sale-more-60-million
  17. ↑ https://www.trevorloudon.com/2020/10/bidens-new-super-pac-is-a-foreign-government-agent/
  18. ↑ https://archive.is/2XBHh
  19. ↑ https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4819961/hunter-biden-ukraine-joe-biden-conflict-interest-13-2014
  20. ↑ https://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/ukraine-politics/british-court-unfreezes-accounts-of-yanukovych-era-ecology-minister-zlochevsky-378238.html?cn-reloaded=1
  21. ↑ https://blogs.pravda.com.ua/authors/leschenko/5549e581cb3df/
    " Google Translate.
  22. ↑ Affidavit of Viktor Shokin on Biden shakedown, September 4, 2019.
  23. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/12/opinion/joe-biden-lectures-ukraine.html
  24. ↑ https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/07/08/will-hunter-biden-jeopardize-his-fathers-campaign
  25. ↑ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2019/09/21/joe-biden-never-talked-ukraine-son-trump-needs-investigated/2401830001/
  26. ↑ https://youtu.be/48TUCoZH5t0
  27. ↑ Including Rosemont Seneca Partners, LLC, Rosemont Seneca Technology Partners, and Rosemont Realty.
  28. ↑ The Heinz Ketchup family fortune.
  29. ↑ https://nypost.com/2018/03/15/inside-the-shady-private-equity-firm-run-by-kerry-and-bidens-kids/amp/
  30. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/09/world/europe/corruption-ukraine-joe-biden-son-hunter-biden-ties.html
  31. ↑ https://www.cfr.org/event/foreign-affairs-issue-launch-former-vice-president-joe-biden
  32. ↑ https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/436816-joe-bidens-2020-ukrainian-nightmare-a-closed-probe-is-revived
  33. ↑ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2335614/Trial-Boston-mob-boss-James-Whitey-Bulger-gets-underway-family-victims-say-look-eye.html
  34. ↑ https://www3.bostonglobe.com/metro/1970/01/19/one-lingering-question-for-fbi-director-robert-mueller/613uW0MR7czurRn7M4BG2J/story.html?arc404=true
    https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/443637-peter-schweizer-hunter-biden-needs-to-testify-on-ukraine-china-business
  35. ↑ https://nypost.com/2018/03/15/inside-the-shady-private-equity-firm-run-by-kerry-and-bidens-kids/
  36. ↑ https://creativedestructionmedia.com/investigations/2020/10/14/cdmedia-reporting-since-nov-on-biden-crime-family-confirmed-leftist-media-enablers-attack/
  37. ↑ Hunter Biden, Burisma, and Corruption: The Impact on U.S.Government Policy and Related Concerns, U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, September 23, 2020, p. 84.
  38. ↑ https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/10/maybe-just-like-gettin-ass-whooped-black-trump-supporter-posts-epic-takedown-black-biden-supporters/
  39. ↑ https://uncoverdc.com/2020/09/26/when-did-hunter-biden-and-associates-file-as-foreign-agents-under-the-fara-act/
  40. ↑ https://www.scribd.com/document/427618359/Shokin-Statement
  41. ↑ https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/343049/
  42. ↑ https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/462658-lets-get-real-democrats-were-first-to-enlist-ukraine-in-us-elections
  43. ↑ https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/10/huge-cia-whistleblower-eric-cairamella-worked-with-dnc-operative-alexandra-chalupa-in-creation-of-trump-russia-collusion-hoax/
  44. ↑ https://intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/20190812_-_whistleblower_complaint_unclass.pdf
  45. ↑ https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6429710-OLC-Opinion-Trump-Ukraine-Call.html
  46. ↑ New York Post: Dems, media aim to squash Barr’s probe of Russia-collusion hoax.

External links