{"id":30676,"date":"2024-08-08T15:38:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-08T20:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=30676"},"modified":"2024-08-08T22:42:27","modified_gmt":"2024-08-09T03:42:27","slug":"hunter-biden-was-hired-by-romanian-businessman-trying-to-influence-us-agencies-prosecutors-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=30676","title":{"rendered":"Hunter Biden was hired by Romanian businessman trying to \u2018influence\u2019 US agencies, prosecutors say"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Hunter Biden<\/u><\/a> was hired by a Romanian businessman accused of corruption who was trying to \u201cinfluence U.S. government policy\u201d during Joe Biden\u2019s term as vice president, prosecutors said in court papers Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Special counsel David Weiss\u2019 team said Hunter Biden\u2019s business associate will testify at the upcoming federal tax trial of the president\u2019s son about the arrangement with the executive, Gabriel Popoviciu<\/u><\/a>, who was facing criminal investigation at the time in Romania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The allegations are likely to bring a fresh wave of criticism of Hunter Biden\u2019s foreign business dealings, which have been the center of Republicans\u2019 investigations<\/u><\/a> into the president\u2019s family. Hunter Biden has blasted Republican inquiries into his family\u2019s business affairs as politically motivated, and has insisted he never involved his father in his business.<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An attorney for Hunter Biden didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prosecutors plan to introduce evidence that Hunter Biden and his business associate \u201creceived compensation from a foreign principal who was attempting to influence U.S. policy and public opinion,\u201d according to the filing. Popoviciu wanted U.S. government agencies to probe the Romanian bribery investigation he was facing in the hopes that would end his legal trouble, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Popoviciu is identified only in court papers as G.P., but the details line up with information released in the congressional investigation and media reporting about Hunter Biden\u2019s legal work in Romania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Popoviciu was sentenced to seven years in prison<\/u><\/a> in 2017 after being convicted of real estate fraud. He denied any wrongdoing. An attorney who previously represented Popoviciu didn\u2019t immediately respond to a phone message Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prosecutors say Hunter Biden agreed with his business associate to help Popoviciu fight the criminal charges against him. But prosecutors say they were concerned that \u201clobbying work might cause political ramifications\u201d for Joe Biden, so the arrangement was structured in a way that \u201cconcealed the true nature of the work\u201d for Popoviciu, prosecutors allege.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hunter Biden\u2019s business associate and Popoviciu signed an agreement to make it look like Popoviciu\u2019s payments were for \u201cmanagement services to real estate prosperities in Romania.\u201d However, prosecutors said, \u201cThat was not actually what G.P. was paying for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, Popoviciu and Hunter\u2019s business associate agreed that they would be paid for their work to \u201cattempt to influence U.S. government agencies to investigate the Romanian investigation,\u201d prosecutors said. Hunter Biden\u2019s business associate was paid more than $3 million, which was split with Hunter and another business partner, prosecutors say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The claims were made in court papers as prosecutors responded to a request by Hunter Biden\u2019s legal team to bar from his upcoming trial any reference to allegations of improper political influence that have dogged the president\u2019s son for years. While Republicans\u2019 investigation has raised ethical questions, no evidence has emerged that the president acted corruptly or accepted bribes in his current role or his previous office as vice president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hunter Biden\u2019s lawyers have said in court papers that he has been \u201cthe target of politically motivated attacks and conspiracy theories\u201d about his foreign business dealings. But they noted he \u201chas never been charged with any crime relating to these unfounded allegations, and the Special Counsel should thus be precluded from even raising such issues at trial.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hunter Biden\u2019s trial set to begin next month in Los Angeles centers on charges that he failed to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes over four years<\/u><\/a> during a period in which he has acknowledged struggling with a drug addiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prosecutors say they won\u2019t introduce any evidence that Hunter Biden was directly paid by a foreign government \u201cor evidence that the defendant received compensation for actions taken by his father that impacted national or international politics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, prosecutors say what Hunter Biden agreed to do for Popoviciu is relevant at trial because it \u201cdemonstrates his state and mind and intent\u201d during the years he\u2019s accused of failing to pay his taxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is also evidence that the defendant\u2019s actions do not reflect someone with a diminished capacity, given that he agreed to attempt to influence U.S. public policy and receive millions of dollars\u201d in the agreement with his business associate, prosecutors wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tax trial comes months after Hunter Biden was convicted of three felony charges<\/u><\/a> over the purchase of a gun in 2018. Prosecutors argued that the president\u2019s son lied on a mandatory gun-purchase form by saying he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He could face up to 25 years in prison at sentencing set for Nov. 13 in Wilmington, Delaware, but as a first-time offender he is likely to get far less time or avoid prison entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

apnews<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Hunter Biden was hired by a Romanian businessman accused of corruption who was trying to \u201cinfluence U.S. government policy\u201d during Joe Biden\u2019s term as vice president, prosecutors said in court papers Wednesday. Special counsel David Weiss\u2019 team said Hunter Biden\u2019s business associate will testify at the upcoming federal tax trial of the president\u2019s son […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":30677,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[5817,3676,2403,3934,29988],"class_list":["post-30676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-businessman","tag-charges","tag-corruption","tag-hunter-biden","tag-romania"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30676"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30678,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30676\/revisions\/30678"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}