WASHINGTON (AP) — A lawyer who previously represented the head of Ukrainian energy company Burisma has retroactively registered as a foreign agent for the work he did for the company seven years ago. The registration was filed with the U.S. Department of Justice under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), which requires disclosure of work for foreign clients.
John Buretta, the lawyer in question, had worked for Burisma’s co-founder Mykola Zlochevsky amid corruption investigations by the Ukrainian government and U.S. authorities. The registration from Buretta raises questions about why Hunter Biden, who also worked for Burisma at the time, did not register as a foreign agent.
Buretta’s law firm, Cravath, Swaine & Moore, stated in the filing that Buretta was retained to represent Zlochevsky and Burisma from January 2016 to April 2017. The firm also disclosed that Buretta had interactions with U.S. government officials during that time, providing information related to potential U.S. and Ukrainian investigations.
The filing comes as House Republicans continue to investigate Hunter Biden for alleged violations of FARA, as well as wire fraud, money laundering, and other crimes. The allegations suggest that Hunter Biden and his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, coerced Zlochevsky into paying them millions of dollars to help get a Ukrainian prosecutor investigating Burisma fired.
The Department of Justice has recently cracked down on FARA violations, as seen in the case of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who was prosecuted for failing to register as a foreign agent. However, Manafort was not allowed to retroactively file a disclosure, unlike Buretta.
According to the FARA filing, Cravath received nearly $350,000 from Burisma for its legal services between January 2016 and August 2017. The House Oversight Committee is set to consider a resolution to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena related to the Republican-led impeachment inquiry against President Biden.
In summary, a lawyer who previously represented Burisma has retroactively registered as a foreign agent, sparking questions about why Hunter Biden did not do the same. The registration comes amid ongoing investigations into the Bidens and their connections to the Ukrainian energy company. The Department of Justice has been cracking down on FARA violations, and the House Oversight Committee is considering holding Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena.