Hunter Biden and his employer, a Ukrainian gas company, were involved in opening an account with a foreign bank that was shut down after a money laundering investigation.
Burisma, the allegedly corrupt Ukrainian gas company that hired the president’s son in 2014, opened an account with him in Malta at a bank that was later closed following an investigation into financial crimes, reports show. explosive emails.
The revelation that the first son and Burisma are linked to a bank accused of flouting money laundering rules, comes after claims by a longtime FBI informant revealed by lawmakers this month that the owner of Burisma sent $10 million to Hunter and his father using an intricate network. offshore operations.
Emails obtained from Hunter Biden’s laptop show he gave tax returns, passport details and even utility bills to Burisma leader Vadym Pozharskyi to open an account at the now defunct SataBank in Malta in 2016.
Hunter Biden’s Ukrainian gas company Burisma opened an account with him in Malta at a bank that later closed following a financial crimes investigation
Satabank was closed in 2018 after an investigation by Malta’s anti-money laundering agency, the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU), which found “glaring shortcomings” in its compliance with the laws anti-money laundering and terrorist financing of the country.
Hunter was asked to provide “a certified statement of source wealth”, notarize them with a lawyer and send them to the owner of an auction house in Malta.
The auctioneer, Pierre Pillow, and his company PGP Trading Limited, were charged in 2020 with laundering “millions of euros”.
Hunter gave his personal details to Burisma executive Vadym Pozharskyi to create an account
Maltese prosecutors say they have been made aware of an allegedly suspicious transaction regarding the sale of a dismantled oil rig involving Burisma.
During the court case, it emerged that Burisma owner Mykola Zolchevsky rented Pillow’s flat in Ta’ Xbiex, Malta, in 2014 while applying for the country’s citizenship through its golden visa scheme, reported The Times of Malta in December 2020.
In 2014, Zlochevsky and Burisma were the target of a financial crime investigation by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office, with the help of US authorities. The case was dismissed without charge.
Pillow pleaded not guilty to his money laundering charges. His lawyer Giannella de Marco told the judge that the police “did not even do the basic investigations”, that the purchase of the oil platform was “a simple transaction via a Maltese company” and that “the diligence reasonable had been made and approved by a bank”.
There are no reports of Pillow’s conviction for the alleged offences, but Maltese government notices from April indicate that his assets continue to be frozen.
Pozharskyi’s emails show that the account Burisma created by sending documents to Pillow was at Satabank in Malta.
Satabank was shut down in 2018 after an investigation by Malta’s anti-money laundering agency, the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU), which found “glaring shortcomings” in its compliance with anti-money laundering laws. -money laundering and terrorist financing of the country.
“Although the bank became aware of the widespread shortcomings and the risks it was exposed to, it remained passive and never implemented corrective measures,” a report from FIAU said.
He said the bank was letting “significant volumes of money” through with insufficient collateral.
In 2014, Burisma owner Mykola Zlochevsky and Burisma were the target of a financial crime investigation by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office, with the help of US authorities. The case was dismissed without charge
Emails obtained from Hunter’s laptop show he gave tax returns, passport details and even utility bills to Pozharskyi to open an account at defunct SataBank in Malta in 2016
In August 2022, the Maltese government’s official gazette revealed that it owed over $81 million to over 5,000 creditors during its liquidation.
Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, who investigated the Biden family with colleague Chuck Grassley for four years, said the FBI has some serious questions to answer.
“No one should find this latest revelation surprising,” he told DailyMail.com.
“The Bidens knew exactly what kind of people they had to deal with – suspected money launderers like Patrick Ho, Mykola Zlochevsky and now, allegedly, Mr. Pillow. The question now is what did the FBI know, when did they know it, and what did they do about it?
Hunter’s connection to a bank and a foreign auctioneer accused of money laundering comes after the FBI revealed to Congress that an informant told them about an alleged money laundering and corruption scheme of 10 million that involved Joe and Hunter in 2020.
The House Oversight Committee said it was made aware of a document detailing the scheme by a whistleblower, but was initially rebuffed by the FBI when it requested a copy.
It wasn’t until they were about to hold director Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress that the Bureau relented – showing congressional committee members a redacted version earlier this month.
Republican Senator Ron Johnson said the FBI has serious questions to answer. “No one should find this latest revelation surprising,” he told DailyMail.com. “The Bidens knew exactly what kind of people they had to deal with”
Senator Johnson investigated the Biden family with colleague Chuck Grassley for four years
House members said the document, dated June 30, 2020, was a redaction of the claims of a longtime informant who had been paid a total of $200,000 by the FBI since 2010 for information.
The informant claimed that they had been meeting with Burisma owner Zlochevsky since 2015. The informant said Zlochevsky told them about his plan to pay $5 million each to Hunter and his father through a network of accounts banks that would take “10 years” to undo.
The payment was allegedly a bribe to end an investigation into Burisma by Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin and to facilitate favorable treatment from the gas company, and the informant claimed he was in fact paid.
According to the informant, Zlochevsky, who is not named in the document, claimed he had 17 audio recordings: 15 of phone calls between him and Hunter, and “two audio recordings of phone calls between him and the then-Vice President Joe Biden,” Sen. Chuck Grassley said in a speech Monday.
Grassley also said he had seen the original, mostly unredacted version of the FBI document, called FD-1023.
