Hunter Biden and the Art of Corruption
by Peter Schweizer • October 1, 2021 at 5:00 am
It is the latest in a string of scams Hunter Biden has undertaken. First, it was his being named, with no expertise whatsoever in either Ukraine or the oil and gas business, to the board of directors of Burisma, a Ukrainian oil and gas company under investigation for fraud. Then it was the deluxe payday in 2012 for his Rosemont-Seneca real estate investment partnership, which was bankrolled to the tune of more than $1.5 billion by Chinese investors with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
It is genius-level corruption, an ethical nightmare for the White House, and a masterpiece of congressional and media dereliction of duty.
Bergès himself has said he is eager to expand his business into the Chinese market. Who will know if China's art-loving billionaires, all connected deeply to the Communist Party and in some cases to the Chinese military, are Hunter's benefactors?
Are we really supposed to believe that the anonymity of the buyers will remain a tight secret, and that Chinese government-connected buyers will not somehow let the Bidens know they are Hunter's newest and biggest fans?
Money-laundering in the art market is nothing new. A Senate Homeland Security and Government Oversight committee report last year identified the art market as the "largest legal, unregulated market in the United States" and a significant weakness in the nation's sanctions and anti-money laundering regimes. Simply put, art transactions are not covered under what's known as the Bank Secrecy Act, which require financial institutions to maintain anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing controls.
Is there any reason to doubt that the proceeds from Hunter's artistic payday will somehow once again find their way into the Biden family estate?
Why are they failing to scrutinize what is so obviously a back-door scheme to funnel money to the president's son from foreign sources? Every American who cares about transparency in government should be outraged.
They say the beauty of art is in the eye of the beholder, but does that apply to corruption as well?
President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, has now plunged into the world of international art, with a New York gallery owner brokering art sales for the rare, emerging talent. Apparently, Hunter's paintings might sell for as much as $500,000 to various anonymous aficionados, according to Hunter's new art dealer, Georges Bergès.
