No basis for claim that Romney, Pelosi sons are being investigated over Ukraine | Fact check

The claim: Romney, Pelosi’s sons are under criminal investigation for business deals with Ukrainian company

An Oct. 4 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) claims the sons of two well-known politicians are in legal trouble.

“Tagg Romney & Paul Pelosi, Jr. Children of Mitt Romney and Nancy Pelosi are now under criminal investigation for business dealing in Ukraine’s Bursima Energy (sic),” reads the post.  It was later updated to attribute the information to Newsmax.

The post was shared more than 250 times in two days. Another version of the post was shared more than 13,000 times on X, formerly Twitter.

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Our rating: False

This is wrong on multiple fronts. There is no evidence that Tagg Romney or Paul Pelosi Jr. are connected to the Ukrainian energy company Burisma at all. And, accordingly, there is no evidence of any criminal investigation along those lines.

Hunter Biden involved with Burisma, no evidence of Romney or Pelosi connection

President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden sat on the board of Burisma from 2014 to 2019. Some Republicans have claimed then-Vice President Joe Biden wrongfully used his power to force the removal of a Ukrainian prosecutor who was investigating the company, but a 2020 Senate investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the president.

There is no evidence that the children of Utah Sen. Mitt Romney or former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi were involved with the company. And there's no evidence of any investigation involving the two.

The Department of Justice has made no announcement of any such investigation, and no credible news outlets have reported on a probe involving Tagg Romney and Paul Pelosi Jr.

There is also no evidence that Newsmax reported on the supposed probe into the two men. Newsmax did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Facebook post is a new variation of a long-running claim of ties between Ukraine and the sons of various politicians.

USA TODAY in 2021 debunked the similar claim that Tagg Romney and Paul Pelosi Jr., as well as the sons of President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State John Kerry, were all on the board of directors for energy companies doing business in Ukraine. Only Hunter Biden has worked for a Ukranian company.

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Former President Donald Trump tried to connect Mitt Romney to Burisma in 2020 after the senator voted to impeach Trump related to efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate political rivals in exchange for military aid, as reported by POLITICO. The allegation was made on the grounds that an advisor from Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign was on the company’s board of directors.

There is no evidence that Tagg Romney or Paul Pelosi, Jr. have worked for Ukrainian companies.

Drew Hammill, Nancy Pelosi's former deputy chief of staff, told USA TODAY in 2020 that claims of a relationship between Paul Pelosi, Jr. and Burisma Holdings were "completely false." USA TODAY reached out to the Department of Justice and the offices of Mitt Romney and Nancy Pelosi for comment but did not receive a response.

Paul Pelosi, Jr., Nancy's Pelosi's son, has been involved with various companies throughout his business career, as mentioned in a 2012 Securities and Exchange Commission filing. He at one point was a board member for Viscoil Holdings LLC, an energy company based in California that later reorganized under a new name. In 2021, Paul Pelosi Jr. became president of EVSK Corp., a Canada-based company focused on electric vehicle battery recycling.

Tagg Romney, Mitt Romney's eldest son, co-founded the private equity investment firm Solamere Capital in 2008. The company is based in Boston and also has an office in New York.

Outlets including Reuters and PolitiFact also debunked claims of Nancy Pelosi and Mitt Romney’s supposed connections to Ukrainian energy companies.

USA TODAY reached out to users who shared the post for comment but did not receive a response.

Our fact-check sources:

• PitchBook, accessed Oct. 7, Solamere Capital Overview

• St. Georges Eco-Mining, accessed Oct. 7, About EVSX

• USA TODAY, Feb. 14, 2021, Fact check: Old claim linking politicians’ sons to Ukraine is partly false 

• USA TODAY, Nov. 2, 2020, Fact check: False claim linking Paul Pelosi Jr., Hunter Biden and Burisma

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: No evidence of criminal probe into Romney, Pelosi's sons | Fact check