Yelena Baturina paid $3.5M to Hunter Biden to enter US market

Russia‘s richest woman Yelena Baturina has refused to discuss her alleged payment of $3.5 million to Joe Biden‘s son Hunter.

But her brother, Viktor Baturin, 63, has told DailyMail.com the money was ‘a payment to enter the American market.’

Joe Biden was the vice president when Baturina wired the money in a series of payments to a bank account held by Hunter’s investment firm Rosemont Seneca Thornton in 2014, according to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

The following year, she opened up an office in the US to oversee her investments in America. In 2016, she launched her first development project, investing $10 million in commercial buildings next to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. 

The ultra-wealthy 57-year-old has long been dogged by corruption allegations, stemming from when her late husband, who was the mayor of Moscow, awarded her with lucrative government business contracts, helping her grow the business.

The suspicion the money was given to Hunter in order to influence Joe has been a battle cry of corruption for Republicans, as it would be considered illegal to try to influence a public official into creating policies that would favor Hunter’s interests.

President Trump referenced the alleged payment during the first presidential debate, but Joe Biden flatly denied his 50-year-old son had received the Russian’s money.

Baturina, whose estimated fortune is around $1.3 billion, told DailyMail.com she was ‘not interested’ in explaining an alleged consultancy fee. Hunter’s lawyer denied he received $3.5 million from Baturina, claiming he wasn’t a co-founder of the investment firm. 

But now, in a bizarre twist, her brother Viktor claimed ‘it was a payment to enter the American market’ while also suggesting she may have been ‘set up’ into making a payment. 

Russia’s richest woman Yelena Baturina has refused to discuss her alleged payment of $3.5 million to Joe Biden’s son Hunter, as her brother claimed she may have been ‘set up’

Last month, the US Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee said Baturina wired the money in a series of payments to a bank account held by Hunter’s investment firm Rosemont Seneca Thornton in 2014

Baturina is the widow of former Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov (pictured together), who died in 2019 and was Mayor between 1992 and 2010. He was fired by Russia’s then president Dmitry Medvedev over corruption allegations, which were never proven in court prior to his death last year

Baturina said in a statement in 2016 about her new US business activities: ‘We’ve managed to make a number of investments at a very good moment – in the situation when the market dropped after 2008.

‘Today the market has without a doubt fully recovered, and the forecast for the future is very good – the rental sector is particularly stable.

‘In this regard, we plan to expand our operations, and are considering the acquisition of a number of similar projects. ‘

Baturina and her brother have long had an unpredictable business and personal relationship. Both were involved from the start in her company, a plastics turned construction firm INTECO, the basis of her fortune.

Her brother Viktor Baturina, 63, claimed ‘it was a payment to enter the American market’ while also suggesting she may have been ‘set up’ into making a payment

The businessman said: ‘Yelena, due to her nature, is not involved in anything on her own.

‘Some proposals are prepared for her, she considers them and says – ‘yes, we’ll do it’.

‘As I understand it, the people around her offered her a set of steps for entering the American market.

‘They proposed this scheme….

‘Of course, I’m not surprised, there were no special goals.

‘It was a pure business, her subordinates proposed a scheme to her and she then had no option but to take responsibility.

‘I believe they explained to her that it was a payment to enter the American market.’

In a separate interview, he said: ‘Her subordinates probably set her up.’

Baturina is the widow of former Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov, who died in 2019 and was mayor between 1992 and 2010. The two met in 1987 while working on Moscow’s council committees before marrying in 1991. 

Much of Baturina’s fortune was built on her plastics-turned-construction firm Inteco, which dominated the construction business in Moscow – thanks in part to lucrative government contracts granted while her husband was mayor.

There was outcry in 1995 when her firm was awarded a contract with Moscow to build seats for the 81,000-person Luzhniki Stadium, the city’s largest stadium. Critics accused Luzhkov of corruption by awarding the contract to his wife.

Baturina’s firm later shifted into construction and was credited with receiving up to 20 percent of Moscow’s new construction contracts.

Luzhkov was fired in 2010 by Russia’s then president Dmitry Medvedev over corruption allegations, which were never proven in court prior to his death. 

Much of Baturina’s fortune was built on her plastics-turned-construction firm Inteco, which dominated the construction business in Moscow – thanks in part to lucrative government contracts granted while her husband was mayor. Pictured: Baturina and Luzhkov in 2016

Luzhkov denied claims of wrongdoing or corruption, saying he was falsely accused because he refused to support Medvedev. Still, because of the ‘political difficulties’, Baturina moved herself and her two daughters to London in 2011. Pictured: Baturina with her two daughters at Luzhkov’s funeral in 2019 

Luzhkov denied claims of wrongdoing or corruption, saying he was falsely accused because he refused to support Medvedev.

Still, because of the ‘political difficulties’, Baturina moved herself and her two daughters to London in 2011. 

Since moving to England, Baturina still remained in the public eye, most recently last year when she suddenly quit from her trustee position for the Mayor’s Fund for London, which pays for education programs in deprived areas of the city.

She resigned after an investigation revealed a board member at her own foundation was being prosecuted for alleged money laundering and tax crimes in Spain. The alleged crimes were not in relation to his work at her charity.