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Biden’s Department of Justice CLEARS lobbying firm linked to Hunter Biden and who worked for Burisma over its foreign dealings
- Blue Star Strategies filed an amended disclosure with the Justice Department
- DOJ was probing its work on behalf of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma
- Hunter Biden was serving on the board of the firm at the time
- Foreign lobbying rules require disclosure of work for foreign clients in U.S.
- Amended filing said it was ‘adding retroactively a foreign principal for a specific and limited time’
The Justice Department has closed a probe into a public affairs firm that did work on behalf of the Ukrainian energy firm Burisma which had Hunter Biden serving in a lucrative post on its board of directors, according to a new report.
The firm, Blue Star Strategies, was not found to have committed wrongdoing, the Washington Post reported.
However it did submit a filing that acknowledged it had done work on behalf of Burisma and owner Mykola Zlochevsky back in 2015 and 2016, although its earlier forms did not report it.
The Foreign Agents Registration Act requires U.S. firms to disclose the names of foreign clients on whose behalf they lobby the government.
DOJ filed a FARA-related suit this week against casino Magnate Steve Wynn, alleging he failed to disclose work on behalf of the government of China when he personally lobbied former President Donald Trump while he was in office. The contacts were over a 2017 effort to extradite Chinese businessman Guo Wengui, ho faced a litany of charges that he fiercely denies and was forced to flee Beijing’s government in 2014.
Hunter Biden served on the board of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma. The Justice Department cleared Blue Star Strategies, which acknowledged doing work for the firm in 2016 in the U.S.
Politico had reported last June the company was under investigation for its work on behalf of Burisma.
It came amid an overall look at foreign efforts to influence U.S. politics.
Burisma featured prominently in efforts by Trump, Rudy Giuliani and other Trump allies to to try to get Ukraine to investigate the company, a push that was part of the the first Trump impeachment, which resulted in Trump’s acquittal in the Senate.
The new form, filed this month by lawyer Karen Tramontano, lists Mr. Nickolai Zlochevsky (through Burisma holdings limited). It says the firm scheduled two meetings with State Department officials so that his lawyer ‘could explain adverse matters in the U.K. and Ukraine.’
The company acknowledged doing work for Mykola Vladislavovich Zlochevsky, a Ukrainian businessman
ROSTOV-ON-DON, RUSSIA – MARCH 11: Ousted Ukrainian President Vikor Yanukovych holds a press conference on March 11, 2014 in Rostov-on-Don, Russia
A new registration form this months mentions work for Zlochevsky
The firm said it held two meetings with State Department officials on his and the company’s behalf
Billionaire Steve Wynn was reportedly asked to register as a foreign agent by the federal government in May of last year
Another form, filed by Sally Painter, a consultant, contained the same information.
An amended filing dated May 12 stated: ‘Pursuant to guidance from DOJ personnel, registrant is adding retroactively a foreign principal for a specific and limited time in 2016. The filings are intended to facilitate full termination of registrant’s current FARA reporting status as an agent of a foreign principal.’
Zlochevsky served as ecology minister under Ukrainian President Viktor F. Yanukovych, who was forced into exile in Russia in 2014.
Tramontano’s attorney, Peter J. Kadzik, told the Post the firm fully cooperated in the probe.
‘There was no finding of any wrongdoing,” Kadzik said. ‘To respond to the DOJ request, Blue Star Strategies submitted an administrative filing to explain the purpose of meetings that were held.’
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