Emails found on Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop provide new details about his business relationship with the head of a consulting firm reportedly under investigation by the Justice Department.
Blue Star Strategies signed on to boost the image of Ukraine-based energy company Burisma Holdings in November 2015, while Hunter Biden was on the company’s board. Blue Star co-founder and CEO Karen Tramontano described the first son to Senate investigators in August of last year as “an acquaintance” and denied that she had spoken to him or any other Burisma board member about taking on the energy firm as a client.
But emails first reported by DailyMail.com show that on Nov. 3, 2015, days before Blue Star’s hiring, Hunter Biden told Burisma executive Vadym Pozharskyi: “Let me have one final call with them and verify once more that they understand the scope so we can all feel the retainer is in line with the work required. I trust [Blue Star co-founder] Sally [Painter] and Karen implicitly so I believe we are all aligned but I want to have one last conversation with them to confirm before we proceed.”
Two days later, Hunter confirmed to Pozharskyi that “[Fellow Burisma board member] Devon [Archer] and I do feel comfortable with BS [Blue Star] and the ability of Sally & Karen to deliver … Looking forward to getting started on this.”
In her testimony, Tramontano claimed Burisma had retained Blue Star after then-US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt criticized the handling of a corruption case against the firm’s owner, Mykola Zlochevsky. Tramontano added that while she met with a number of US officials on behalf of Burisma, she did not try to influence US policy.
However, a Nov. 2, 2015 email from Pozharskyi indicates he expected Blue Star to try and influence US policy. Expressing concern about the firm’s pitch, he wrote that it “doesn’t offer any names of top US officials here in Ukraine (for instance, US Ambassador) or Ukrainian officials (the President of Ukraine, chief of staff, Prosecutor General) as key targets for improving [Zlochevsky]’s case and his situation in Ukraine.”
Meanwhile, Amos Hochstein, who met with Blue Star officials — including Tramontano — when he was handling international energy affairs at the State Department, told Senate investigators in September 2020 the lobbyists wanted him to know they “did not agree with the US government officials’ view of Mr. Zlochevsky.”
Hochstein added that Tramontano claimed to have a report that said Zlochevsky had been cleared of corruption charges.
In another meeting from March 2016, Hochstein said, Blue Star officials and a Burisma lawyer were “unhappy with the rhetoric from US officials, myself included, regarding Mr. Zlochevsky.”
In her August 2020 testimony, Tramontano claimed that she had only met or spoken with Hunter Biden on two occasions before 2015 that she could recall. However, emails from 2014 showed the two were in touch about a variety of subjects. In March of that year, Tramontano wrote Eric Schwerin, Hunter’s partner at consulting firm Rosemont Seneca, to suggest that she register her investment banking license with the firm.
That July, after Tramontano passed her Series 79 exam, Hunter emailed her with congratulations.
“[T]hank you very much. [L]ook forward to working together,” Tramontano responded.
That September, Tramontano wrote Hunter again to thank him for traveling to New York City to meet with Lativan bank owner Valeri Belokon.
“It made a huge impact on Valeri that you traveled specifically to meet him,” she wrote. “Thank you for your efforts and kind words”.
In February 2015, Schwerin emailed Tramontano to tell her that “I gave Hunter a download of your conversation with Valeri and he concurred with the answers I gave you re: the Middle East and Legal Work. All things he could be helpful on … Hunter said to thank you again for advocating on his behalf.”
“Advocating for him is the easiest part of my life …,” Tramontano responded.
Politico reported earlier this month that Blue Star Strategies is being probed for allegedly failing to disclose work on behalf of foreign officials and political parties in violation of federal law. There is no indication that Hunter Biden, who disclosed last year that his “tax affairs” are being investigated, is a target in the Blue Star investigation.