US Senate Uncovers Questionable Transactions Between Hunter Biden, Foreigners - Senator

A Republican-led probe has uncovered evidence that Hunter Biden conducted "millions of dollars" worth of questionable transactions with foreign individuals including Elena Baturina, the wife of the former Mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov, two Senate committees announced in a press release on Wednesday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd September, 2020) A Republican-led probe has uncovered evidence that Hunter Biden conducted "millions of dollars" worth of questionable transactions with foreign individuals including Elena Baturina, the wife of the former Mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov, two Senate committees announced in a press release on Wednesday.

"US Senators Ron Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, released a report that revealed millions of Dollars in questionable financial transactions between Hunter Biden and his associates and foreign individuals, including the wife of the former mayor of Moscow and individuals with ties to the Chinese Communist Party," the two committees said in the release.

The months-long investigation by the two committees uncovered questionable transactions that included a $3.5 million wire transfer from Baturina to Biden, the release said.

The transaction was carried out in February 2014, when Baturina transferred money for a "Consultancy Agreement" to Rosemont Seneca Thornton, an investment firm co-founded by Hunter Biden, the two committees said in their final report on the investigation.

The probe also found that Biden gave money to women from Russia and other Eastern European countries who appeared to be linked to either prostitution or human trafficking.

The investigation also uncovered evidence of "millions of dollars in questionable transactions" between Biden and his business associates Ye Jianming, Gongwen Dong, and other Chinese nationals linked to the Communist government and People's Liberation Army, the release said.

Moreover the investigation revealed that former Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Ukraine George Kent in 2015 and 2016 warned then-Vice President Joe Biden's office about his concerns that Hunter Biden's role on Burisma's board could create the perception of a conflict of interest. These concerns, went unaddressed, the probe found.

"These were just some of the findings from investigation into potential conflicts of interest arising from Hunter Biden accepting a position on the board of, and taking millions of dollars from, Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company with a long-standing reputation for corruption, while his father, Joe Biden, was vice president and the public face of the Obama administration's handling of Ukraine policy," it added.

The report is "almost exclusively" based on records from US sources, including government, entities and individuals, Johnson said via Twitter.

Democrats have criticized the investigation as a "politicized" attempt to influence the election and are expected to release their own report countering the Republicans' findings.

Hunter Biden was a board member at Ukrainian energy company Burisma. Ukraine's former Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin led an investigation into the firm, but the probe was subsequently closed and Shokin was dismissed. According to media reports, Shokin said the investigation had been ended out of fear of the United States.