WASHINGTON — The House Oversight Committee revealed Wednesday that more than $1 million flowed from a crooked Romanian businessman to the Biden family while then-Vice President Joe Biden paid lip service to cleaning up corruption in the Eastern European nation.
The revelation, which committee chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) will lay out at a morning press conference, builds out public knowledge of one of first son Hunter Biden’s lesser-known engagements with dodgy associates in countries where his father held sway.
In a 36-page memo, the committee cites subpoenaed bank records to describe how $3 million was allegedly transferred from Gabriel Popoviciu’s Bladon Enterprises Limited to Robinson Walker LLC — controlled by Hunter’s business partner Rob Walker — between November 2015 and May 2017.
Of the $3 million, the memo says, roughly one-third — $1,038,627.08 — was transferred to bank accounts belonging to Hunter Biden, first daughter-in-law Hallie Biden and an unnamed Biden family member. The procedure mirrors a similar division of a roughly $3 million haul in early 2017 from Chinese firm CEFC China Energy. About a third of that amount was shared among Hunter, Hallie, first brother James Biden and a fourth, unidentified Biden, according to an Oversight Committee memo from March.
The unidentified Biden account or accounts receiving the Romanian proceeds got $80,000 over four transactions. After the prior committee memo noting an unidentified Biden received CEFC proceeds, Hunter Biden’s legal team issued a statement denying anyone other than the three named Bidens were paid.
Hallie Biden received $10,000 from Walker’s firm — apparently from the Romanian income — in February 2017, according to the memo, clarifying the purpose of a payment referenced in the March document. Hallie, the widow of Joe Biden’s late son Beau, received $25,000 in apparent proceeds from CEFC transfers later that same year.
“The Romanian transactions show evidence of influence peddling and a correlation between Biden family and their business associates’ work and then Vice President Biden’s responsibilities while in office,” the new memo says.
“The Committee is concerned about the Biden family’s pattern of courting business in regions of the world in which the then Vice President had an outsize role and influenced U.S. policy.”
Hunter Biden began working for Popoviciu in 2015 as he faced prosecution on corruption charges in his home country. At some point, the then-second son arranged a separate side agreement with the tycoon outside of his law firm, Boies Schiller Flexner LLP.
A person familiar with the arrangement told The Post in August of last year that the side deal with Popoviciu netted Hunter and his associates “millions.” It’s unclear how much money Hunter Biden made through his work for Popoviciu within the confines of Boies Schiller.
Popoviciu, convicted of bribery in 2016, has attracted notice in the US because of the timing of interactions with Hunter.
In one instance, former FBI director Louis Freeh — who Hunter tapped to work on Popoviciu’s defense — called the younger Biden in July 2015, just two hours before Hunter was scheduled to meet with his dad, according to emails from the first son’s abandoned laptop.
Hunter also flew to Romania on Nov. 15, 2016, for a two-day trip to represent Popoviciu before the country’s National Anticorruption Directorate. The then-second son was booked for “breakfast with dad” two days after his return.
The Oversight Committee memo — released hours ahead of a noon deadline for the FBI to turn over a document alleging President Biden took bribes while vice president — also slams dubious White House denials that the Bidens received money from China, providing actual screenshots of bank transfers.
The memo notes that in May 2014, Joe Biden “visited Romania and delivered a speech addressed to the Romanian Prime Minister, judges, prosecutors, and leaders of the parliament,” saying in part:
“Corruption is a cancer, a cancer that eats away at a citizen’s faith in democracy, diminishes the instinct for innovation and creativity; already-tight national budgets, crowding out important national investments. It wastes the talent of entire generations. It scares away investments and jobs. And most importantly it denies the people their dignity. It saps the collective strength and resolve of a nation. Corruption is just another form of tyranny.”
The memo also notes that in September 2015, Joe Biden “welcomed Romanian President Klaus Iohannis to the White House.”
An Obama-Biden administration statement on the meeting said that Biden “welcomed President Iohannis’ focus on anti-corruption efforts and rule of law as a means to strengthen national security and promote greater investment and economic growth.” Iohannis said Biden “voiced satisfaction over Romania’s progress with the fight against corruption.”
The Oversight Committee memo notes that “[w]ithin five weeks of this meeting, Bladon Enterprises Limited (Bladon Enterprises) began making deposits into Robinson Walker, LLC’s bank account.”
The Justice Department reportedly is nearing a final decision on whether to charge first son Hunter Biden with tax fraud and other alleged crimes. Hunter’s attorneys met with DOJ lawyers on April 26 in Washington in what could be a final step before a charging decision. President Biden, meanwhile, was spotted Sunday with his younger brother James Biden, who partnered with Hunter in many of his overseas relationships.
Among the first-family’s better-known international dealings, Hunter Biden earned up to $1 million per year to serve on the board of Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma between 2014 and 2019, beginning while his father led the Obama administration’s Ukraine policy.