So it was pay-to-play, just as we suspected. -- RO
https://nypost.com/2024/01/17/news/arro ... ers-names/
‘Arrogant’ Hunter Biden slammed for demanding ‘s—ty art’ buyers’ names, despite WH claiming otherwise
By Isabel Vincent
Jan. 17, 2024
Hunter Biden has been slammed as “arrogant” for an extraordinary arrangement with his Manhattan art dealer to tell him who bought his paintings and for how much.
The first son’s contract with dealer Georges Berges was signed in October 2020.
Biden demanded the clause that read, in part, “gallery will give artist list of names of purchasers of work with prices … on a quarterly basis,” Republican lawmakers investigating the first son’s business dealings have been told.
And it was still in effect in July 2021, when the White House insisted that he had an agreement with the Manhattan gallery to ensure that the buyers would remain anonymous to prevent any influence-peddling.
The wording of the contract was disclosed by Berges in behind-closed-doors testimony given under oath to the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability last week as part of its probe into the Biden family’s business practices.
He also told the committee that the president’s son, 53, knew who bought about 70% of his art, including that Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali, who obtained works by the first son before and after scoring a prestigious presidential appointment, was a buyer.
Biden also knew that other works were bought by his “sugar brother,” Hollywood lawyer Kevin Morris, who bought $875,000 in paintings and also fronted the cash for the first son’s $2 million federal tax bill.
Art dealers contacted by The Post said that while it’s not unusual for well-established artists to demand to know the identity of their buyers, most emerging artists’ contracts contain no such clause.
The president’s son is a self-taught artist who began painting after his legal and lobbying career imploded.
“It’s a really arrogant thing to do,” said Stefan Simchowitz, a Los Angeles-based gallerist, who has sold art for 17 years.
“I don’t understand why that clause would be in his contract. It’s absurd.
“The artists who do ask for it are usually well established, not an emerging artist like Hunter selling his sh–ty art.”
The revelation of a clause giving Biden buyers’ names raises questions over the White House’s statements in 2021, when his art went on sale for as much as $500,000 apiece.
On July 8, 2021, White House sources briefed the Washington Post that Biden would neither set the prices nor learn the identities of his buyers thanks to an ethics arrangement brokered between Berges’ gallery and President Biden’s administration.
At a press briefing on July 9, 2021, then-press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed the Washington Post’s report and said: “The gallerist will not share information about buyers or prospective buyers, including their identities, with Hunter Biden or the administration, which provides quite a level of protection and transparency.”
Two weeks later, on July 22, Psaki doubled down on that claim. Asked why the White House would not simply release the names of the buyers, she added: “We won’t know who they are, so there’s no scenario where they could provide influence.”
The Post has learned that Biden asked Berges to remove the clause demanding the buyers’ names from his contract in September 2021, after Psaki’s claims that the buyers would be unknown to him.
A month later, in October 2021, Psaki insisted at another press briefing that the White House did not know the identities of buyers of the first son’s art.
“It still is the purview of the gallerist. We still do not know and will not know who purchases any paintings. And the president remains proud of his son,” Psaki said.
She then cut off the line of questioning, saying, “Did you have another question on something else?”
It’s not clear whether Psaki was aware of the contents of the 2020 agreement between Biden and Berges.
Neither Psaki nor the White House returned The Post’s several requests for comment. A request for comment from Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell was not returned.
A source close to the House inquiry told The Post: “The White House did not place any safeguards but misled the American people into thinking they did.”
Biden, a recovering drug addict, is the author of “Beautiful Things,” a 2021 memoir in which he chronicled his struggles with alcohol, drugs and sex.
He has been accused of trying to sell access to his father to foreign businessmen, with some of those dealings detailed in emails and texts found on his laptop, The Post exclusively revealed in 2020.
President Biden has denied profiting from his son’s deals.
https://nypost.com/2024/01/17/news/arro ... ers-names/
‘Arrogant’ Hunter Biden slammed for demanding ‘s—ty art’ buyers’ names, despite WH claiming otherwise
By Isabel Vincent
Jan. 17, 2024
Hunter Biden has been slammed as “arrogant” for an extraordinary arrangement with his Manhattan art dealer to tell him who bought his paintings and for how much.
The first son’s contract with dealer Georges Berges was signed in October 2020.
Biden demanded the clause that read, in part, “gallery will give artist list of names of purchasers of work with prices … on a quarterly basis,” Republican lawmakers investigating the first son’s business dealings have been told.
And it was still in effect in July 2021, when the White House insisted that he had an agreement with the Manhattan gallery to ensure that the buyers would remain anonymous to prevent any influence-peddling.
The wording of the contract was disclosed by Berges in behind-closed-doors testimony given under oath to the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability last week as part of its probe into the Biden family’s business practices.
He also told the committee that the president’s son, 53, knew who bought about 70% of his art, including that Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali, who obtained works by the first son before and after scoring a prestigious presidential appointment, was a buyer.
Biden also knew that other works were bought by his “sugar brother,” Hollywood lawyer Kevin Morris, who bought $875,000 in paintings and also fronted the cash for the first son’s $2 million federal tax bill.
Art dealers contacted by The Post said that while it’s not unusual for well-established artists to demand to know the identity of their buyers, most emerging artists’ contracts contain no such clause.
The president’s son is a self-taught artist who began painting after his legal and lobbying career imploded.
“It’s a really arrogant thing to do,” said Stefan Simchowitz, a Los Angeles-based gallerist, who has sold art for 17 years.
“I don’t understand why that clause would be in his contract. It’s absurd.
“The artists who do ask for it are usually well established, not an emerging artist like Hunter selling his sh–ty art.”
The revelation of a clause giving Biden buyers’ names raises questions over the White House’s statements in 2021, when his art went on sale for as much as $500,000 apiece.
On July 8, 2021, White House sources briefed the Washington Post that Biden would neither set the prices nor learn the identities of his buyers thanks to an ethics arrangement brokered between Berges’ gallery and President Biden’s administration.
At a press briefing on July 9, 2021, then-press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed the Washington Post’s report and said: “The gallerist will not share information about buyers or prospective buyers, including their identities, with Hunter Biden or the administration, which provides quite a level of protection and transparency.”
Two weeks later, on July 22, Psaki doubled down on that claim. Asked why the White House would not simply release the names of the buyers, she added: “We won’t know who they are, so there’s no scenario where they could provide influence.”
The Post has learned that Biden asked Berges to remove the clause demanding the buyers’ names from his contract in September 2021, after Psaki’s claims that the buyers would be unknown to him.
A month later, in October 2021, Psaki insisted at another press briefing that the White House did not know the identities of buyers of the first son’s art.
“It still is the purview of the gallerist. We still do not know and will not know who purchases any paintings. And the president remains proud of his son,” Psaki said.
She then cut off the line of questioning, saying, “Did you have another question on something else?”
It’s not clear whether Psaki was aware of the contents of the 2020 agreement between Biden and Berges.
Neither Psaki nor the White House returned The Post’s several requests for comment. A request for comment from Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell was not returned.
A source close to the House inquiry told The Post: “The White House did not place any safeguards but misled the American people into thinking they did.”
Biden, a recovering drug addict, is the author of “Beautiful Things,” a 2021 memoir in which he chronicled his struggles with alcohol, drugs and sex.
He has been accused of trying to sell access to his father to foreign businessmen, with some of those dealings detailed in emails and texts found on his laptop, The Post exclusively revealed in 2020.
President Biden has denied profiting from his son’s deals.
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