Law firm registers as foreign agent for Hunter Biden-linked company 8 years later

A prestigious law firm has belatedly registered as a foreign agent of a Ukrainian energy company linked to Hunter Biden.

The filing is the latest sign of the far-reaching legal fallout related to Burisma, which appointed Hunter Biden to its board in 2014 and has since been central to two presidential impeachment dramas.

The law firm Cravath, Swain & Moore said in an emailed statement that Thursday’s retroactive filing came after discussions with the Justice Department regarding the scope of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. A spokesperson declined to elaborate.

It's unusual for foreign agents to register years after their work has concluded. But several have done so in recent years as foreign lobbying efforts figured into a series of high-profile political controversies and prompted renewed enforcement interest from the Justice Department.

A partner at Cravath, John Buretta, met with three Obama administration officials and sent a letter to a fourth in 2016 as part of his work on behalf of Burisma and its owner Mykola Zlochevsky related to potential U.S. and Ukrainian investigations, according to the filing. At the time, the company and its owner faced scrutiny from officials in the U.S., U.K. and Ukraine over possible corruption. Hunter Biden is not named in the FARA filing.

Investigations opened in the U.K. and Ukraine did not result in charges, but the episode has had far-reaching consequences for U.S. politics.

At the time of Hunter Biden’s board service, then-Vice President Joe Biden oversaw U.S. policy in Ukraine. As the U.S. government pushed reform efforts in Ukraine, Joe Biden compelled the country’s government to oust its top prosecutor in 2016 by threatening to withhold U.S. aid.

In the run up to the 2020 election, allies of former President Donald Trump claimed that Joe Biden forced the firing in order to help Burisma escape corruption charges.

But U.S. officials involved with Ukraine matters at the time said the firing of prosecutor Viktor Shokin was consistent with U.S. policy goals and stemmed from Shokin’s reluctance to pursue corruption allegations such as those facing Burisma.

In 2019, the Democrat-controlled House impeached President Donald Trump for his efforts to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate the Bidens over the matter. He was acquitted by the Republican-controlled Senate.

Last year, House Republicans opened an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden over his relatives’ business dealings, including Hunter Biden’s Burisma work.

In December, Special Counsel David Weiss indicted Hunter Biden in federal court in California on charges that included alleged failure to pay taxes on his income from Burisma. Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Cravath is not the only firm to belatedly file as a foreign agent of Burisma. In 2022, Democratic lobbying firm Blue Star Strategies also registered as a foreign agent of Burisma’s and Zlochevsky’s for its efforts to head off corruption investigations. Blue Star reportedly faced a Justice Department investigation of its Burisma work. A lawyer for the firm told the Washington Post in 2022 that the probe had been closed with no finding of malfeasance.

The work registered by Cravath comprises four contacts with U.S. officials.

In March 2016, Buretta, a former top Justice Department official, met separately with under secretary of state Catherine Novelli, assistant secretary of state Amos Hochstein, and Justice Department official Bruce Swartz, according to an exhibit to the filing.

In September of 2016, Buretta also sent a letter to Marie Yovanovitch, who had recently been sworn in as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, according to the exhibit.

A representative for Novelli said she does not recall the meeting and declined an interview request. Representatives for Yovanovitch and for the Justice Department, where Swartz still worked as of December, did not respond to requests for comment.

A 2020 report on Hunter Biden produced by House Republicans references Buretta’s meeting with Hochstein in which the attorney reportedly briefed Hochstein on Zlochevsky’s legal troubles in the U.K.

Hochstein declined to comment.

Cravath reported receiving about $350,000 from Burisma from March to August of 2016 and spending about $60,000 in connection with its Burisma work between mid-January and mid-September of that year.