The 46th President of the United States, Joe Biden , was allegedly paid $5 million as part of a bribery scheme by a Ukrainian natural gas firm, Burisma Holdings, as per Fox News . A confidential human source released an FBI document detailing the involvement of 80-year-old and his son, Hunter Biden, in accepting bribes from this firm.
Apparently, Biden’s 53-year-old son was a board member at Burisma Holdings, and the source released this information in a June 2020 interview with the FBI. The contents of the FD-1023 form, produced by the country’s principal law enforcement agency, allege then-Vice President Biden’s involvement in a criminal bribery scheme with a foreign national that could also impact the United States’ policy decisions. The form was dated June 30, 2020, and the ‘highly credible’ confidential source detailed multiple meetings with a Burisma Holding executive for several years, which began in 2015. However, before proceeding, it is worth noting that the veracity of these claims is yet to be authenticated.
The confidential source is believed to be a business professional whose advice has been sought by the Ukrainian firm on gaining U.S. oil rights and getting involved with a U.S. oil company, as was revealed by someone familiar with the FBI document in question. The Burisma executive spoke with the ‘confidential source’ on ‘the best way to go forward’ in 2015 and 2016. According to this source, the energy firm’s executive discussed Hunter’s role as the company’s board member. When the anonymous source questioned the executive as to why they sought the source’s advice despite having the current VP’s son on board, the executive referred to Hunter as ‘dumb.’
As per the memo, Hunter was hired by the Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings in 2013 to gain support from his father, who was the Vice President of the United States at the time, as reported by BBC. The FBI document also alleged that Burisma made two $5 million payments to the Bidens as part of a scheme to remove Viktor Shokin, Ukraine’s prosecutor general at the time. As per the executive, if Shokin’s investigations had begun at the time, it would have been difficult for the Ukrainian company to break into the American market. While furthering this conversation, the Burisma executive told the confidential source, “$5 Million for one Biden, $5 million for the other Biden.” As per the insider familiar with the FBI document, the payment was a ‘retainer’ the firm paid to the Bidens so they could deal with several issues, including the investigation led by Shokin. Another source called it a ‘pay-to-play’ scheme.
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The FBI source also claimed that the Ukrainian company’s executive apparently paid the hefty amount to the Bidens ‘through so many different bank accounts’ that investigators wouldn’t be able to ‘unravel’ the money trail for at least ten years.
The former VP acknowledged he successfully pressured Ukraine to fire prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who was investigating Burisma Holdings (where Hunter had a lucrative role on the board, receiving thousands of dollars per month) by seemingly withholding financial aid. “I said, ‘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,’” Biden recalled telling then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. When talking about this incident during an event for the Council on Foreign Relations in 2018, Biden further had these words to say: “Well, son of a b***h, he got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time.”
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on October 3, 2023. It has since been updated.