Hunter Biden, the now-sober son of Joe Biden, in a recent podcast, admitted that being on the board of Burisma Holdings funded his cocaine addiction. Appearing on the Dopey podcast with the host Dave Manhein, he spoke at length about his journey of navigating grief and addiction. He also revealed that he was able to afford his lifestyle of luxury, cocaine and prostitutes through his position on the board of Burisma Holdings.
Being on the board of the Ukrainian energy company generated earnings for him of approximately $50,000 to $83,000 per month from 2014 until his term expired in April 2019. Mykola Zlochevsky, the owner of Burisma, allegedly hired Hunter to structure the company’s corporate governance and improve its global image amidst corruption allegations. The position, secured through family connections, despite having no relevant energy expertise, largely funded Hunter’s drug and alcohol addiction. “I never went broke” he said.
This adds on further to Hunter’s narrative reflected in his memoir, Beautiful Things. In the book, he explains how regular cash flow became his primary enabler for addiction. The foreign income provided a safety net and allowed him the room to smoke crack, “24 hours a day, every 15 minutes, seven days a week” during the peak of his addiction.
The regular cash paired with lack of official responsibilities provided an ideal environment to Hunter for engaging in drugs and alcohol. While receiving his Burisma earnings, Hunter lived in his Washington D.C., apartment, where Joe Biden would often visit him under the pretext of checking up on his son. At the time, Burisma earnings also allowed Hunter to invite his drug supplier, nicknamed “Bicycles,” to move in with him to ensure constant access. Hunter recalls this time as particularly difficult, since he was dealing with significant grief caused by the death of his older brother in May 2015 and the divorce from his first wife in 2017.
In his book as well as the podcast, Hunter has aggressively defended his position at the Burisma. He said his expertise as a corporate lawyer and former board member of the Amtrak justified his role as the former board member. Although, it is noteworthy to mention that none of his corporate experience was related to Ukrainian corporations or enegry sector. During Joe Biden’s tenure, Hunter had also been on the board of approximately 14 major national and international organizations, including the UN World Food Program. He also went on to say that his position at Burisma was manageable despite his addiction because he only had to attend four meetings a year.
However, in a number of other inteviews Hunter has remarked that taking a job at Burisma was a “mistake”. During Joe Biden’s presidency, Hunter’s involvement at the Burisma was heavily probed and led to intense political scrutiny. Political scandals attributed Joe Biden’s pressure for firing the Ukranian Prosecutor General to stopping an investigation into Burisma to proect Hunter.
The income from Burisma formed a core component of Hunter’s federal tax evasian proceedings in California. The prosecutors were able to prove that Hunter failed to pay at least $1.4 million in federal taxes while maintaining an extravagant lifestyle of drugs and partying.
Add Comment