Hunter Biden was the only client of art dealer George Bergès who asked him to reveal which customers bought $1.5 million worth of his amateur artwork – as it appears Joe Biden’s backers were behind nearly 70 percent of the sales.
Bergès’ revelations came during testimony before lawmakers last week, according to a transcript first reviewed by DailyMail.com.
Republicans have subpoenaed Bergès as they step up their impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden and try to probe Hunter’s lucrative art deals.
The art dealer told House Oversight Committee investigators that he worked with about 15 clients and that no one, except Hunter Biden, had asked to know who had purchased their work.
Furthermore, Bergès revealed that in his first contract with Hunter, there was a provision requiring him to reveal the names of his buyers to the president’s son, a “very unusual” practice in the art world.
“That part was different from – Normally the gallerist does not let the artist know who the collectors are,” Bergès said, according to the transcript.
Of all the clients of art dealer George Berges, Hunter Biden was the only one who asked him to disclose which clients bought his work
Hunter was made aware of at least 70 percent of the identities of those who bought his art, House Republican investigators estimated based on Bergès’ testimony.
“I believe in the first contract, he was…he could have known who the buyers were,” the art dealer told investigators.
Months into his father’s presidency, Hunter renegotiated a second contract, under which Bergès was not allowed to reveal the names of buyers to him.
Bergès said he did not get the “impression” that Hunter had ever sold art before using him as a dealer.
The dealer sold Hunter’s first work on December 11, 2020 – less than a month before his father became president.
The White House had previously announced that a team of lawyers had reviewed the sales and kept buyers anonymous as a way to avoid potential conflicts of interest when buyers handed inflated sales prices to the president’s son.
According to former Biden press secretary Jen Psaki, the ethics plan’s established “system” regarding the sale of Hunter’s art and setting prices would be handled by a “professional gallerist.”
Berges told House Oversight Committee investigators that he worked with about 15 clients and that no one had asked to know who had purchased their work, except Hunter Biden, according to testimony reviewed by DailyMail.com
In their first contract, Biden included a provision requiring Berges to reveal the names of his buyers to him, a highly unusual practice in the art world.
“Normally the gallerist doesn’t let the artist know who the collectors are,” Berges said
Hunter was made aware of at least 70 percent of the identities of those who bought his art, House Republican investigators estimated based on Berges’ testimony.
Bergès also confirmed that a Biden donor who later received an appointment from the president to a plush arts commission — Elizabeth Hirsch Naftali — had spent nearly $100,000 on two of Hunter’s works, and that her name was disclosed to Hunter.
President Joe Biden appointed her to the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, an obscure but prestigious board, in July 2022, eight months after Hunter’s exhibition opened in New York City.
Bergès told the committee last week that Naftali paid $42,000 for one of Hunter’s artworks in February 2021 and another in December 2022 for $52,000 – before and after her appointment.
The art dealer revealed that Hunter’s pipe-smoking Hollywood lawyer Kevin Morris bought $875,000 worth of Hunter’s art, but paid only $300,000 for it – Bergès’ 40 percent commission – and kept the rest as repayment of a loan from Hunter.
Morris, who is now backing a documentary about Hunter, has spent more than $5 million financially supporting the president’s son, including offering him $2 million to pay the IRS in back taxes.
Bergès said he was first introduced to the president’s son by Hollywood producer and Democratic donor Lynette Phillips, who hosted at least one fundraiser attended by President Biden.