Republicans on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee are demanding records from a New York dealer detailing the sales of Hunter Biden’s artwork.
Georges Berges, the proprietor of the Georges Berges Gallery in Manhattan, has listed Biden paintings for sale between $55,000 and $225,000. Other paintings have sold for as much as $500,000. The painting buyers will be kept anonymous, leading to concerns from ethics experts that purchases could be used to cover up influence-peddling.
“For over a decade, the Biden family has profited from Joe Biden’s positions as a public official. Your arrangement with Hunter Biden raises serious ethics concerns and calls into question whether the Biden family is again selling access and influence,” Oversight Committee chairman James Comer wrote Wednesday in a letter to Berges.
🚨 Why would anyone pay Hunter Biden top dollar for artwork that is arguably worthless? He’s no Pablo Picasso.
Foreign adversaries, including China, have used transactions involving sham art sales to launder money & evade sanctions. @GOPoversight will get answers. @WSJ 👇🏼 https://t.co/TAW5IfpMGo
— Rep. James Comer (@RepJamesComer) January 25, 2023
Despite the paintings’ five- and six-figure prices, critics have panned their quality.
“An initial online glance suggests there’s nothing new or challenging about his work,” art critic Tabish Khan said in 2021. (RELATED: ‘What Is Being Sold Is The Biden Name’: Critics Go After Hunter Biden’s Art, Which Is Raking In Up To $500,000)
Others have made clear that Hunter Biden’s presidential father is the main source of the paintings’ value.
“And anybody who buys it would be guaranteed instant profit…He’s the president’s son. Everybody would want a piece of that,” gallery owner Alex Acevedo said.
Despite Biden’s high-paying jobs as an attorney and foreign energy consultant, he has struggled financially in recent years. The Internal Revenue Service took out a $113,000 lien against Biden in 2015, and he is currently under investigation in the Federal District of Delaware over his failure to pay taxes.
“It is concerning that President Biden’s son is the recipient of anonymous, high–dollar transactions—potentially from foreign buyers—with no accountability or oversight (other than you). The American people deserve transparency regarding certain details about Hunter Biden’s expensive art transactions,” Comer added in the letter.
Berges is also invited to sit for a transcribed interview on the matter.