Hunter Biden stood to make tens of millions of dollars if he could help a wealthy real estate tycoon in Romania escape corruption charges, so he sought to leverage money from a Chinese company to purchase a stake in the associate’s real estate development project next to the U.S. embassy in Bucharest.
The revelations were first made public in a government transcript of testimony by former Hunter Biden business associate Tony Bobulinski.
Mr. Bobulinski told House investigators last year that in 2017, he was called by Hunter Biden associate James Gilliar to broker a deal that would leverage up to $500 million from CEFC China Energy. The money would be used to “buy down” Romanian tycoon Gabriel Popoviciu’s ownership of the Beneasa real estate development project adjacent to the U.S. embassy.
Hunter Biden had been serving as Mr. Popoviciu’s lawyer and advisor since at least 2015, when Mr. Biden was serving as vice president.
According to Mr. Bobulinski, Hunter Biden, Mr. Gilliar, and business associate Rob Walker had been under a lucrative monthly contract with Mr. Popoviciu, who was willing to spend big money to retain the group because he valued their connection to the powerful vice president of the United States.
House investigators later calculated through bank records that Mr. Popoviciu made seventeen payments, totaling over $3 million, to Hunter Biden and his associates.
All but one of the payments were made while Mr. Biden was vice president. Biden family accounts ultimately received approximately $1.038 million of that haul.
After Mr. Biden left office in 2017, Mr. Popoviciu wasn’t paying up anymore, Mr. Bobulinski said, “because he viewed that he no longer had the power or the leverage of the Biden family for what he was dealing with in Romania.”
Mr. Bobulinski said Hunter Biden “was livid” about Mr. Popoviciu cutting off the monthly payments.
Between 2015 and 2018, Hunter Biden was at the peak of his crack addiction and was blowing money on luxury hotels, prostitutes, getting high and hunting for drug dealers, according to his memoir.
“I guess he needed money badly,” Mr. Bobulinski told House investigators.
Hunter Biden’s contract with Mr. Popoviciu hadn’t totally dried up. It offered him a way to earn millions.
“That contract outlined that, if, in fact, they were successful in getting Gabriel off in Romania, that they stood to make potentially millions or tens of millions of dollars based on this contract,” Mr. Bobulinski said.
By purchasing a big stake in Mr. Popoviciu’s business, Mr. Bobulinki said, Hunter Biden would become a minority holder and, thanks to his powerful name, the Romanian government “would be more willing to discuss” the corruption charges against Mr. Popoviciu with the former vice president’s son.
The land deal ultimately fell apart, and no Chinese money was invested in Beneasa.
The failed land deal is under the spotlight in a new book by New York Times Reporter Kenneth R. Vogel about Hunter Biden and other “Washington insiders on the payroll of corrupt foreign interests.”
Mr. Vogel said the deal Hunter Biden was chasing in Bucharest could have resulted in the Chinese purchasing land not only adjacent to the U.S. embassy, but “possibly the land on which the embassy sat.”
The now-defunct CEFC was run by several senior members of the Chinese Communist Party. Their ownership of the land would have presented an obvious and significant U.S. security risk.
While the land deal never came together, Hunter Biden developed a lucrative relationship with CEFC that began when Mr. Biden was vice president and continued after he left office and planned his successful 2020 presidential campaign.
The Chinese company, along with an affiliate, ultimately paid the future first son and his business associates more than $8 million as it sought the help of the powerful Biden name in gaining entry into Western energy markets, according to House investigators.
Mr. Popoviciu was ultimately convicted of fraudulently acquiring land north of Bucharest, but his conviction was thrown out by a Romanian court in January.
Mr. Bobulinski has been accused of lying by Hunter Biden, Mr. Walker and Mr. Gilliar, a British national.
Hunter Biden, through his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in 2023 that Mr. Bobulinski made “numerous false statements” to the FBI regarding Biden family business deals.
Mr. Bobulinski’s most sensational claim about the Biden business deals directly involves former President Biden. He said that Mr. Biden, whom the associates called “the big guy,” was to receive a 10% cut of the business deal with CEFC.
Mr. Gilliar, Hunter Biden and his father have said the former president was never involved in any business deals.
