Ukrainian Businessman Says Gas Company Hired Hunter Biden For Protection

A former member of the Ukrainian parliament reportedly says Burisma Holdings hired Hunter Biden for protection.

Oleksandr Onyshchenko, a businessman who left Ukraine in 2016, said Burisma’s founder, Mykola Zlochevsky, sought the assistance of Hunter Biden, the son of then-Vice President Joe Biden, at a time when the natural gas company was under intense scrutiny for corruption.

“It was to protect [the company],” Onyshchenko told Reuters on Friday.

Hunter Biden discusses his relationship to Ukrainian natural gas company
Burisma Holdings in an ABC News interview, Oct. 15, 2019. ABC News screenshot.

Hunter Biden obtained a seat on the company’s board of directors because he was seen as a man with a political clout, influence from his father’s role in the Obama administration, according to people interviewed by the news agency. Joe Biden was doling out assistance to Ukraine as then-President Barack Obama’s point man in the east European country.

Hunter Biden has admitted that he exercised “poor judgment” in taking a position for which he had no expertise or experience but blames his detractors for believing in a “ridiculous conspiracy.” He claims he knew as much about the subject as anyone on the board and that when he discussed the matter with his father, the elder Biden said, “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

His job ended in April this year after five years of apparently providing advice on legal issues and corporate finance, according to Reuters, which also noted Biden did not visit Ukraine to engage with other board members during...

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