A Russian oligarch said to be close to Vladimir Putin allegedly paid for Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding this spring.
The eldest of the president’s offspring, Trump Jr., exchanged vows with Florida socialite Bettina Anderson in a small and lavish Bahamas ceremony.
The three-day event was held on multiple private islands and was ‘everything the couple dreamed of’, Bettina said.
ProPublica has now revealed that the hefty bill for the wedding was paid for by Umar Kremlev, a Russian millionaire.
Kremlev heads up the International Boxing Association, which is bankrolled by a Kremlin-linked energy company.
ProPublica’s investigation found that the wedding was paid for by an IBA ‘affiliated’ entity in Dubai.
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A spokesman for Trump Jr previously said that Kremlev was a ‘personal friend of Donald’.
A spokesperson for Trump Jr pointed Metro to Bettina’s recent Instagram post, which read: ‘Don and I got married privately on Friday, surrounded ONLY by our family. It was intimate, deeply personal and one of the most beautiful days of our lives.
‘Our dear friend Umar very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations for us AFTER our wedding. It was an extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend, and something for which we were and remain incredibly grateful.
She added: ‘It’s unfortunate that something so personal and happy can be recast as something political or sinister simply because of who someone is or where they come from. Friendship doesn’t require a political motive. Generosity doesn’t automatically come with an agenda. And sometimes a wedding gift is simply a wedding gift.’
Security concerns have already been raised by former intelligence chiefs who fear the President’s son could be being used as a pawn.
Frank Montoya Jr., a retired FBI counterintelligence operative, told ProPublica: ‘If I’m paying for your wedding, at some point, you’re going to owe me something.
‘This should be unthinkable for the son of the president. End of story.’
Don Jr was previously married to Vanessa Trump, with whom he has two children, Kai and Donald Trump III. Vanessa Trump is dating golfer Tiger Woods.
He is the eldest child born to Trump and his first wife, Ivana, before Ivanka and Eric, and he has two half-siblings, Barron and Tiffany Trump.
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