Senator Chuck Grassley on Thursday released an FBI report that details allegations that a Ukrainian energy executive paid $10 million in bribes to Joe and Hunter Biden for political protection.
In the report, known as an FD-1023, a confidential FBI source detailed conversations with executives from Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy firm that hired Hunter Biden as a director in 2014. According to the source, an unidentified businessman, Burisma sought the Bidens’ help in order to provide political cover for an ongoing bribery investigation into the company and its owner, Mykola Zlochevsky. Burisma executives were concerned that the investigation would undermine plans for a $30 million IPO in the United States.
The source, who detailed conversations he had with Burisma from 2015 to 2020, said Zlochevsky expressed confidence that "Hunter will take care of all of those issues through his dad." The source also alleged that Burisma executive Vadym Pozharskyi, who worked closely with Hunter Biden, said the embattled first son would "protect us through his dad, from all kinds of problems."
According to the source, Zlochevsky later claimed in private conversations that he was forced to pay $5 million each to Hunter and Joe Biden. Zlochevsky used the Russian mafia term "poluchili"—which translates into "forced or coerced to pay"—to describe the alleged scheme.
The FD-1023 has been the source of intense debate in Washington. Republicans have acknowledged that they do not know whether Zlochevsky indeed paid the bribes to the Bidens. They have instead asked FBI Director Christopher Wray to detail what steps the bureau took to investigate the claims.