Hunter Biden was hired by a Romanian businessman accused of corruption who was trying to “influence US government policy” during US President Joe Biden’s time as vice president, prosecutors said in court papers on Wednesday.
Special counsel David Weiss’ team said that Hunter Biden’s business associate would testify at a federal tax trial of the president’s son about the arrangement with the executive, Gabriel Popoviciu, who was facing criminal investigation at the time in Romania.
An attorney for Hunter Biden did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Photo: Reuters
Prosecutors plan to introduce evidence that Hunter Biden and his business associate “received compensation from a foreign principal who was attempting to influence US policy and public opinion,” the filing said.
Popoviciu wanted US government agencies to probe the Romanian bribery investigation he was facing in the hopes that would end his legal trouble, prosecutors said.
Popoviciu is identified only in court papers as G.P.
However, the details line up with information released in a congressional investigation and media reporting about Hunter Biden’s legal work in Romania.
Popoviciu was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2017 after being convicted of real-estate fraud.
He denied any wrongdoing.
An attorney who previously represented Popoviciu did not immediately respond to a telephone message.
Prosecutors say Hunter Biden agreed with his business associate to help Popoviciu fight the criminal charges against him.
However, prosecutors said they were concerned that “lobbying work might cause political ramifications” for Joe Biden, so the arrangement was structured in a way that “concealed the true nature of the work” for Popoviciu.
Hunter Biden’s business associate and Popoviciu signed an agreement to make it look like Popoviciu’s payments were for “management services to real-estate prosperities in Romania.”
However, “that was not actually what G.P. was paying for,” prosecutors said.
Popoviciu and Hunter Biden’s business associate agreed that they would be paid for their work to “attempt to influence US government agencies to investigate the Romanian investigation,” prosecutors said.
Hunter Biden’s business associate was paid more than US$3 million, which was split with Hunter Biden and another business partner, prosecutors said.
The claims were made in court papers as prosecutors responded to a request by Hunter Biden’s legal team to bar from his upcoming trial any reference to allegations of improper political influence.
Hunter Biden’s lawyers have said in court papers that he has been “the target of politically motivated attacks and conspiracy theories” about his foreign business dealings.
Hunter Biden’s trial is set to begin next month in Los Angeles.
It centers on charges that he failed to pay at least US$1.4 million in taxes over four years.
Prosecutors say they would not introduce any evidence that Hunter Biden was directly paid by a foreign government “or evidence that the defendant received compensation for actions taken by his father that impacted national or international politics.”
Still, prosecutors say what Hunter Biden agreed to do for Popoviciu is relevant at trial because it “demonstrates his state and mind and intent” during the years he’s accused of failing to pay his taxes.
“It is also evidence that the defendant’s actions do not reflect someone with a diminished capacity, given that he agreed to attempt to influence US public policy and receive millions of dollars” in the agreement with his business associate, prosecutors wrote.
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
UNSCHEDULED VISIT: ‘It’s a very bulky new neighbor, but it will soon go away,’ said Johan Helberg of the 135m container ship that run aground near his house A man in Norway awoke early on Thursday to discover a huge container ship had run aground a stone’s throw from his fjord-side house — and he had slept through the commotion. For an as-yet unknown reason, the 135m NCL Salten sailed up onto shore just meters from Johan Helberg’s house in a fjord near Trondheim in central Norway. Helberg only discovered the unexpected visitor when a panicked neighbor who had rung his doorbell repeatedly to no avail gave up and called him on the phone. “The doorbell rang at a time of day when I don’t like to open,” Helberg told television
A team of doctors and vets in Pakistan has developed a novel treatment for a pair of elephants with tuberculosis (TB) that involves feeding them at least 400 pills a day. The jumbo effort at the Karachi Safari Park involves administering the tablets — the same as those used to treat TB in humans — hidden inside food ranging from apples and bananas, to Pakistani sweets. The amount of medication is adjusted to account for the weight of the 4,000kg elephants. However, it has taken Madhubala and Malika several weeks to settle into the treatment after spitting out the first few doses they
RSS