Hunter Biden paintings linked to corruption and money laundering

On Tuesday, Republican members of the US House of Representatives held a closed-door session, hearing from Georges Bergès, the owner of a prominent New York art gallery selling contentious paintings by Hunter Biden. The sale of Hunter Biden's artworks has stirred quite a controversy in the US, prompting suspicions of money laundering, corruption, and influence peddling associated with the president's son.

WORLD JANUARY 12. 2024 14:41

On Tuesday, a new development unfolded in Congress’s investigation of Hunter Biden. In a closed-door session without media outlets and cameras, the House of Representatives heard from Georges Bergès, the Manhattan art dealer and gallery owner who sells controversial paintings by the president’s son. Mr. Bergès informed conservative politicians that, contrary to previous White House claims, Hunter Biden knew the people who purchased his art. Interestingly, many of these buyers also turned out to be generous donors to the Democratic Party.

One of these buyers is Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali, who paid $42,000 in February 2021 and $52,000 in December 2022 for some art pieces. Notably, between her first and second purchases, she was appointed to the US Commission on the Preservation of Foreign Heritage. During this period, Ms Naftali also visited the White House on several occasions.

The other buyer was Hollywood’s well-known celebrity attorney Kevin Morris, a significant contributor to the Democratic Party. Mr Morris initially met the president’s son at a political fundraiser in December 2019. In a deal finalized in January 2023, the star lawyer acquired $875,000 worth of art from the gallery of Georges Bergès, thereby supporting the scandal-ridden life of the president’s sibling.

Additionally, Mr Morris acquired Hunter Biden’s stake in the Chinese investment company Bohai Harvest RST. He assumed $250,000 of debt from an unpaid loan to Hunter Biden from his Chinese business associates. Interestingly, the loan’s beneficiary was none other than Joe Biden’s home in Delaware.

Following the closed-door hearing, Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Republican Congressman James Comer of Kentucky, issued a statement accusing the White House of deceiving the American people regarding an ethics agreement governing the sale of Hunter Biden’s artwork. This agreement was purported to have guidelines preventing conflicts of interest. The White House had previously asserted the existence of a code of ethics to maintain the confidentiality of buyers’ identities from Hunter.

Comer’s statement also highlighted that Georges Bergès had never communicated with the White House about such an arrangement. According to Comer, information provided by Bergès to the committee exposed the unfolding situation surrounding Hunter Biden’s paintings as a genuine ethics nightmare. He added that the White House has a significant obligation to clarify its actions and address the misleading information provided to the American people.

In 2021, the Washington Post, citing two Biden advisors, reported that „White House officials helped craft an agreement to keep the purchase of Hunter Biden’s artwork secret even from the artist himself, in an attempt to avoid the ethical problems that can arise when a presidential family member tries to sell a product with highly subjective value.” However, it has been revealed that no such ethical agreement was in place.

According to information obtained by Business Insider, the sales of Hunter Biden’s art had brought in at least 1,3 million dollars until June last year.

WORLD

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hunter biden, usa, white house