White House has faced accusations of influence peddling over younger Biden’s anonymous art sales
Ben Wilson • January 6, 2023 11:50 am
An Arkansas court may soon force Hunter Biden to disclose the identities of the buyers of his expensive artwork, information the White House has tried to conceal as it faces accusations of influence peddling.
The recovering crack addict cited “a substantial material change” in his “financial circumstances” in a request to lower his child support payments for four-year-old Navy Joan Roberts, the New York Post reported. That request prompted Navy Joan’s mother, Lunden Roberts, a former exotic dancer at a Washington, D.C., strip club, to formally demand information about Biden’s lucrative art transactions.
“The plaintiff asked for detailed information about the defendant’s works of ‘art’ and the purchasers of the same,” Roberts’s attorney wrote in a Dec. 27 court filing.
The request comes as Biden, a “self-taught” artist, unveils paintings at a gallery in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood. One painting, part of Biden’s “Haiku” exhibition, has a price tag of $225,000, which is higher than the selling price for some works by Pablo Picasso and Vincent van Gogh.
READ MORE: Eight Works From Famed Artists That Sold for Less Than a Hunter Biden Painting
The White House has faced accusations that Hunter Biden’s art sales present a conflict of interest, allowing anonymous buyers to curry favor with the Biden administration. The administration, which has attempted to shield information about the buyers from the public, has denied the claim, saying buyers’ names would not be revealed to the White House.
If the court grants Roberts’s request, Biden would also have to disclose the income generated from his paintings, which have reportedly fetched as much as $500,000.
President Joe Biden refuses to acknowledge the existence of Navy Joan Roberts. Hunter Biden fathered the girl with Lunden Roberts while Roberts worked at the D.C. strip club. The president has denied Secret Service protection for the child and omitted the four-year-old from the White House’s Christmas stockings.
READ MORE: Hunter Biden’s Love Child Snubbed Again at Christmas
