Mykola Zlochevsky

Mykola Zlochevsky is the former Ecology Minister of Ukraine during the term of President Viktor Yanukovych and founder of Burisma Holdings, Ukraine's largest oil and natural gas company. Zlochevsky and Yanukovych were deposed in the Maidan coup of 2014 and went into hiding. Yanukovych and a cabinet officials were accused of looting tens of billions of dollars from the Ukrainian government.^[1] Zlochevsky was accused of looting about $5 Billion as Ecology Minister through illegal manipulation of licensing fees.^[2]

Burisma[edit]

In April 2014, two months after the Maidan coup, Zlochevsky appointed Hunter Biden to the board of Burisma.^[3][4][5][6] Four days later Vice President Joseph Biden pledged P million of U.S. taxpayer money to aid the new government of Ukraine.^[7] offering his political support and $50 million in aid for the new shaky government.^[8] According to The Hill Hunter Biden's firm, Rosemont Seneca Partners, was receiving regular payments—“usually more than $166,000 a month”—from Burisma. The payments ran from the spring of 2014 through the fall of 2015 and reportedly totaled more than $3 million.

In the spring of 2014, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office opened an investigation at the behest of the UK prosecutors office, which was investigating money laundering allegations against Zlochevsky and had frozen $23.5 million in assets allegedly belonging to him in early April 2014. Ukrainian prosecutors refused to provide the UK with needed documents and in January 2015 a British court ordered the assets unfrozen. This action was pointedly called out in a speech by U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, who stated

“In the case of former Ecology Minister Mykola Zlochevsky, the U.K. authorities had seized $23 million in illicit assets that belonged to the Ukrainian people.” Instead of receiving cooperation from Ukrainian prosecutors, they “sent letters to Zlochevsky’s attorneys attesting that there was no case against him. As a result, the money was freed by the U.K. court, and shortly thereafter the money was moved to Cyprus.”

On Feb. 10, 2015, Viktor Shokin was appointed as the Prosecutor General of the Ukraine and he picked up the investigation into Burisma, which reportedly continued until his removal in early 2016 under pressure from Vice President Biden on President Poroshenko, threatening to withhold $1 Billion in loan guarantees unless the investigation into Hunter Biden was terminated.^[9] The Hill article included a written answer from Shokin, who said his investigation into Burisma had included plans for “interrogations and other crime-investigation procedures into all members of the executive board, including Hunter Biden.”

In February 2017 Zlochevsky appointed former CIA operative and Mitt Romney advisor Joseph Cofer Black to the board of Burisma.^{[10][11][12][13]}

Vice President Joe Biden oversaw the disbursement of $1 billion allocated by the U.S. to the new government of Ukraine. In 2014, Biden's son Hunter Biden, was appointed to the board of directors of Burisma Holdings, the largest oil and gas company in Ukraine. Hunter Biden was hired by Mykola Zlochevsky, who served as Ukraine's ecology minister in the previous administration. Hunter Biden was paid $166,000 per month. The money was split with the nephew of Whitey Bulger.

Zlochevsky came under investigation by the new administration for alleged embezzlement of $5 billion while ecology minister. The prosecutor traced payments made to Hunter Biden. Vice President Biden threatened the new Ukrainian administration to withhold $1 billion in U.S. allocated funds unless the prosecutor investigating Hunter Biden was fired.^[14]

Biden bragged about having caused the firing of the Ukraine prosecutor to a CFR conference.

U.S. banking records show Hunter Biden's firm, Rosemont Seneca Partners LLC, received regular transfers — usually more than $166,000 a month — from Burisma from spring 2014 through fall 2015, during a period when Joe Biden was the main U.S. official dealing with Ukraine. Biden threatened Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko that the Obama administration would pull $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees, sending Ukraine toward insolvency, if it didn't immediately fire Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin who was investigating his son, Hunter. Biden recounted,

"'You’re not getting the billion'. I’m going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours. I looked at them and said: ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money'...Well, [SOB], he got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time."^[16][17]

Yuriy Lutsenko, who replaced Shokin as the prosecutor looking into Burisma, said the evidence in the Burisma case he'd like to present to William Barr, particularly the vice president's intervention.

Between April 2014 and October 2015, more than $3 million was paid out by Burisma to an account linked to Biden's and Devon Archer's Rosemont Seneca firm, according to the financial records placed in a federal court file in Manhattan in another case against Archer. The bank records show that, on most months when Burisma money flowed, two wire transfers of $83,333.33 each were sent to the Rosemont Seneca–connected account on the same day. The same Rosemont Seneca–linked account typically then paid Hunter Biden one or more payments ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 each. Ukrainian prosecutors reviewed internal company documents and wanted to interview Hunter Biden and Archer about why they had received such payments, but couldn't because of Joe Biden's intervention.

On September 4, 2019, former Prosecutor General Victor Shokin made a sworn affidavit outlining Joe Biden's shakedown.^[18]

Senate investigation[edit]

Senate investigators concluded,

The records acquired by the Committees show that Hunter Biden and his family were involved in a vast financial network that connected them to foreign nationals and foreign governments across the globe. Hunter Biden and Archer, in particular, formed significant and consistent financial relationships with the corrupt oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky during their time working for Burisma and their firms made millions of dollars from that association while Joe Biden was vice president and the public face of the Obama administration’s Ukraine policy. Rosemont Seneca Thornton, an investment firm co-founded by Hunter Biden, received $3.5 million in a wire transfer from Elena Baturina, who allegedly received illegal construction contracts from her husband, the former mayor of Moscow. Moreover, Archer’s apparent receipt of money for a car from Kenges Rakishev of Kazakhstan while Vice President Biden was in Kyiv is especially concerning in light of the timing. And finally, Biden and Archer’s work with Chinese nationals connected to the Communist regime illustrate the deep financial connections that accelerated while his father was vice president and continued after he left office.

Biden and Archer found willing partners in Chinese nationals connected to the Communist regime. Their work in China began at least in 2009, with the creation of Rosemont Seneca Partners with Heinz, Secretary of State John Kerry’s stepson. Then, several years later, Biden and Archer formed BHR with Bohai Capital and received their business license approval in China shortly after Biden visited China with his father, Vice President Biden.

Hunter Biden’s connections and financial associations appear to have accelerated significantly after he associated himself with Ye Jianming, who had deep connections with the Communist regime and PLA. However, that didn’t seem to have any impact on Hunter Biden, who made millions from the relationship. Indeed, Hunter Biden and his family, to include James and Sara Biden, associated with other Chinese nationals such as Gongwen Dong. In one case, the three of them went on a $100,000 global spending spree after Gongwen Dong and Hunter Biden opened a joint account. In addition, Hunter Biden received millions of dollars over a period of years from Gongwen Dong’s companies. According to records acquired by the Committees, many of these transactions involved potential criminal financial activity.^[19]

The $3.5 million from the wife of the Moscow mayor was payment for $200 million money laundering]] scheme to circumvent the Magnitsky Act.^[20] No record of Hunter Biden filing as a lobbyist or agent of a foreign power under the FARA Act exists.^[21]

See also[edit]

• Biden-Ukraine scandal
• Ukrainian collusion timeline

References[edit]