President 
Donald Trump said on Friday that his eldest son had paid back Umar Kremlev, a Russian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin, for partly funding the son's post-wedding festivities in the Bahamas. Asked in the Oval Office about Kremlev's involvement, Trump said it was "totally allowed" and that it is "very common" to give wedding parties for others, the BBC reported. After an investigation said Kremlev paid "hundreds of thousands of dollars," the couple said he partially funded two nights of their three-day celebrations on a private island as a gift.
The president did not say how he knew the Putin ally had been paid back, and the payment has not been verified by the BBC. The son is a private citizen, so it is not illegal for him to accept gifts from a foreign national. Ethics watchdog groups have nonetheless said that his accepting an expensive gift from someone associated with a foreign head of state presents the appearance of a conflict of interest, even though he is not a US government employee. Trump's ties to Russia have raised questions since his 2016 campaign and led to a special counsel investigation into a meeting his son attended with a Russian operative.
Sen. John Curtis, a Utah Republican, called the gift "corruption" on Friday and pledged to say more about it in the coming days, The Hill reported. He criticized the president's son for letting a Russian oligarch with ties to the Kremlin pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to finance his wedding after-party in the Bahamas this year.
Kremlev runs the International Boxing Association, which is funded by the state-backed energy company Gazprom and was suspended by the Olympic Committee in part over its failure to report those ties, the BBC reported. He was part of a delegation that visited China with Putin in May. The Russian president has also given him the Order of Friendship, a top state honor, according to ProPublica, which published the investigation into the festivities. A spokesperson for the president's son told the outlet that the two men were personal friends without "a business relationship," while Kremlev's office told it that they met a few years ago and "have a friendly relationship."
Figures referenced: Donald Trump. — JudgeMarket.
