The House Oversight Committee ripped Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) on Friday for defending Hunter Biden’s art buyer, Elizabeth Naftali, from a subpoena issued to compel her compliance in the House impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
Goldman, who received campaign contributions from Naftali, FEC filings show, defended Naftali after the committee subpoenaed her as a part of its impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden.
Naftali is a prominent Biden donor and Biden appointee to the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad. She bought Hunter Biden’s art in July 2022, Business Insider first reported. It is unknown if Naftali’s purchase occurred before or after her appointment to that position.
Goldman claimed the committee’s Thursday subpoena was a “new low” for House Republicans because “Naftali’s 3-year-old niece is currently being held hostage by Hamas.”
The committee slammed Goldman for “politicizing” a hostage situation and urged the Democrat to fulfill his oversight duties by helping to “root out corruption.”
“Not only has Ms. Naftali donated thousands of dollars to Rep. Goldman’s campaign, but she remains an important figure in the Biden family’s influence peddling schemes after her decision to purchase Hunter Biden’s artwork,” a committee spokesman told Breitbart News.
The art industry is known for shady business transactions. A Senate subcommittee report detailed in 2020 how the art market serves as a vehicle for money laundering:
The art industry is considered the largest, legal unregulated industry in the United States. Unlike financial institutions, the art industry is not subject to Bank Secrecy Act’s (“BSA”) requirements, which mandate detailed procedures to prevent money laundering and to verify a customer’s identity. While the BSA does not apply to art transactions by art dealers and auction houses, sanctions do. No U.S. person or entity is allowed to do business with a sanctioned individual or entity.
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While the art market is not regulated by the BSA, it is governed by unwritten rules. A large number of art sales happen through intermediaries referred to as “art advisors” who can represent both purchasers and sellers. In a typical transaction, a purchaser may not ask who owns the piece of art they are purchasing; the seller may not ask for whom it is being purchased or the origin of the money. And in general an art advisor would be reluctant to reveal the identity of their client for fear of being cut out of the deal and losing the business.
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Because the art industry is not subject to BSA requirements, when a piece of art is sold, there is no legal requirement for the selling party to confirm the identity of the buyer or that the buyer is not laundering money through the purchase. While the four biggest auction houses have voluntary anti-money laundering (“AML”) programs, the employees who facilitated art purchases in the Subcommittee’s case study said they never asked the art advisor the identity of his client. Instead, the auction houses considered the art advisor the principal purchaser and performed any due diligence on the art advisor, even when it was well-known that the ultimate owner was someone else. With regard to the funds used to purchase art, the auction houses told the Subcommittee they rely on financial institutions to ensure the integrity of the funds, even though the auction houses interact directly with the buyer. But these voluntary AML policies are just for sales through the auction houses. As stated above, the majority of art sales are private transactions. A private dealer interviewed by the Subcommittee stated she had no written AML policies, tries to work with people she knows and trusts, looks for red flags, and relies on her gut. She also explained that her practices have significantly changed over the years and that she also relies on advice from AML lawyers. Secrecy, anonymity, and a lack of regulation create an environment ripe for laundering money and evading sanctions.
The committee’s subpoena of Naftali coincided with five others issued recently. Those include Hunter Biden, James Biden, “moneyman” Eric Schwerin, former top CEFC China Energy Co. official Mervyn Yan, and art dealer Georges Bergès.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
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