Hunter Biden gushed over ‘extravagant’ gifts from Burisma exec who was focus of corruption probe
Fox News
FIRST ON FOX: Hunter Biden thanked a top Burisma Holdings executive for birthday gifts he described as “far too extravagant” less than two months before the top Ukraine prosecutor investigating the energy company was infamously fired, emails reveal.
In addition to the more than $50,000 a month then-Vice President Joe Biden’s son received while serving on Burisma’s board from April 2014 to April 2019, he was also apparently receiving lavish gifts from the company’s founder, according to emails from Hunter’s abandoned laptop that have been verified by Fox News Digital.
Nearly two years into Hunter’s tenure on the board, Vadym Pozharskyi, an adviser to Burisma’s board, sent Hunter an email wishing him a happy birthday, which would have made Hunter 46 years old at the time.
“Hoping even though it’s a working day, you’ve at least had some cake already!!” Pozharskyi wrote on Feb. 4, 2016. “I would like to wish you a Happiest birthday! May you have what you truly need!”
“Also, I would like to share with you birthday wishes from Nikolay below,” he continued before relaying the words of “Nikolay,” which appears to be a reference to Burisma’s founder and its former president, Mykola Zlochevski.
In a 2014 email from Pozharskyi to Hunter’s lawyer and Devon Archer, who also served on Burisma’s board, Pozharskyi stated that the “correct spelling of his name is Mykola Zlochevskyi.” In several other emails, Zlochevsky was identified by the initials “NZ” with “N” standing for “Nikolai” or “Nikolay.”
Zlochevsky, a former Ukrainian government official, was later linked to a multimillion dollar bribery scheme where anti-corruption officials were offered at least $5M to end the case against Zlochevsky, according to Reuters. Ukrainian investigators have said Hunter was not involved.
“Dear Hunter,” Pozharskyi wrote to Hunter in 2016, relaying the birthday wishes of Zlochevsky. “I know we haven’t known each other for long, but in the short time that I’ve known you I have seen that you are a smart decent person which believe me is a rare quality in the world of business, and even more so, with my background as a minister, in the world of politics. Today, on your birthday with all my heart I am wishing you to remain true to yourself, regardless of the circumstances, and give yourself some credit now and then!!”
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Hunter responded the next day, asking Pozharskyi to thank Zlochevsky for the “far too extravagant” birthday gifts.
“V- Thanks so much,” Hunter wrote. “Let Nikolay know how much I appreciate his friendship and loyalty. I truly believe in what we are doing and I’m proud to say I am a part of this organization. And I am so glad you and I are on the same team.”
“Finally- thank NZ for the beautiful birthday gifts it was far too extravagant but much appreciated,” he added. “Let’s talk tomorrow or Saturday about the editorial- I have a few ideas I’d like to share.”
It’s unclear what gifts Hunter received.
Pozharskyi replied that he was “looking forward” to Hunter’s feedback.
“Thank you for your kind words!” Pozharskyi wrote. “I have also conveyed them to Nikolay, who, as you know, very much appreciates your involvement!
“I am available for the call both today and on Saturday at any time,” he added. “Feel free to suggest a time that works best for you and I will gladly adjust! Looking forward to your feedback!”
Upon joining Burisma, Hunter reportedly connected the company with Blue Star Strategies to help the firm fight corruption charges levied against Zlochevsky, Ukraine’s former minister of ecologies.
Blue Star Strategies was reportedly under federal investigation from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware in 2021 for its lobbying practices. The same office leads the federal investigation into Hunter foreign business deals. The Washington Post reported last year that the lawyer for the firm’s CEO said there was no finding of wrongdoing.
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The Obama administration pushed for the prosecutor investigating Zlochevsky at the time, Viktor Shokin, to be removed from his post. Less than two weeks after Hunter expressed gratitude for the gifts from Zlochevsky, the Obama White House released a readout of then-Vice President Biden’s call with Ukraine’s president at the time.
“The Vice President also commended President Poroshenko’s decision to replace Prosecutor General Shokin, which paves the way for needed reform of the prosecutorial service,” the White House readout said.
On the same day as the readout, Hunter Biden’s longtime business partner Eric Schwerin emailed him an article that mentioned Poroshenko calling for Shokin’s resignation in his statement.
At the end of March 2016, Schwerin forwarded another article to Hunter with the headline “Ukraine’s parliament sacks corruption-tainted prosecutor,” referring to Shokin.
Shokin was fired in late March 2016 and the case was closed by the prosecutor who replaced him, Lutsenko. Biden would later boast on camera in 2018 that when he was vice president he successfully pressured Ukraine to fire Shokin.
“I said, I’m telling you, you’re not getting the billion dollars. 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 said, according to a transcript of Biden’s remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations. “Well, son of a b—-. (Laughter.) He got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time.”
Biden allies, though, maintained that his intervention had nothing to do with his son, but was rather tied to the administration’s concerns of corruption in Ukraine. At the time, as vice president to former President Obama, Biden was running U.S.-Ukraine policy and anti-corruption campaigns.
Fox News Digital previously reported that Pozharskyi attended a dinner with Biden and several of Hunter’s foreign business associates at Café Milano in Washington, D.C., on April 16, 2015, when Biden was vice president.
The day after the dinner, Hunter received an email from Pozharskyi that read, “Dear Hunter, thank you for inviting me to DC and giving an opportunity to meet your father and spent [sic] some time together.”
In November 2015, Pozharskyi sent an email to Hunter, Archer, and Schwerin about a “revised proposal, contract and initial invoice for Burisma Holdings” from Blue Star Strategies, where he emphasized the importance of being on the “same page re our final goals.”
“With this in mind, I would like us to formulate a list of deliverables, including, but not limited to: a concrete course of actions, incl. meetings/communications resulting in high-ranking US officials in Ukraine (US Ambassador) and in US publicly or in private communication/comment expressing their ‘positive opinion’ and support of Nikolay/Burisma to the highest level of decision makers here in Ukraine :President of Ukraine, president Chief of staff, Prosecutor General, etc,” Pozharskyi said.
“The scope of work should also include organization of a visit of a number of widely recognized and influential current and/or former US policy-makers to Ukraine in November aiming to conduct meetings with and bring positive signal/message and support on Nikolay’s issue to the Ukrainian top officials above with the ultimate purpose to close down for any cases/pursuits against Nikolay in Ukraine,” he continued.
Hunter responded that he wanted to “have one last conversation” with Blue Star, but said he was “comfortable” with Blue Star. “You should go ahead and sign,” he wrote.
“Looking forward to getting started on this,” Hunter said.
In December 2015, then-Vice President Biden traveled to Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, where he praised Poroshenko and said he was “overwhelmed” by his “warmth” and “friendship.” During the same speech, he repeatedly talked about rooting out corruption.
“The Ukrainian people cannot once again have their hopes dashed based on the cancer of corruption,” Biden said.
“And it’s absolutely critical for Ukraine, in order to be stable and prosperous and part of a secure Europe to definitely, thoroughly, completely root out the cancer of corruption,” he continued.
Ahead of that trip, an associate at Blue Star Strategies emailed executives at the consulting firm, Hunter, Archer, and Pozharskyi about a White House conference call that “outlined the trip’s agenda and addressed several questions regarding U.S. policy toward Ukraine.” The email had an attached document with the minutes and background of the call, but Fox News Digital could not access it. However, a press release from the archived version of the Obama White House’s website appears to show a full transcript from the conference call.
Fox News Digital asked Hunter’s lawyer to describe the gifts Hunter received from Zlochevsky and whether Zlochevsky gifted him anything else during his time at Burisma, but his lawyer did not respond.
Pozharskyi and Blue Star Strategies did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.
Fox News’ Brooke Singman and Haley Chi-Sing contributed to this report.