Umar Kremlev, a Russian businessman with close ties to the Kremlin, helped pay for Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding earlier this year, ProPublica reported Monday, citing financial records and three sources familiar with the matter.
The payments included around $100,000 to rent a private island and $70,000 for a fireworks display on the first day of the three-day wedding of the U.S. President Donald Trump’s son, according to the report.
The funds were paid through IB Challenger, a Dubai-based firm used by Kremlev to run operations for the International Boxing Association (IBA), which he heads, after moving them from Switzerland following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The IBA told ProPublica it incurred no wedding expenses itself, while declining to comment on IB Challenger’s payments.
Kremlev is under Ukrainian sanctions due to his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin through Alexei Rubezhny, head of the Kremlin leader’s personal security service.
National security experts told ProPublica that a member of Putin’s circle gaining intimate access to Trump’s family by financially backing his son’s wedding raises serious concerns.
“If I’m paying for your wedding, at some point, you’re going to owe me something,” said Frank Montoya Jr., a retired career FBI official who held senior counterintelligence roles.
“This should be unthinkable for the son of the president. End of story,” Montoya Jr. added.
Kremlev’s press office said the he met Trump Jr. “a couple of years ago” and the two men have since maintained a “friendly relationship.”
A spokesperson for Trump Jr. also described Kremlev as his “personal friend” who he had met through a mutual friend in the hunting world. He did not dispute Kremlev’s wedding payments.
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