Counterintelligence Veterans Cite Russian Access Tactic
Umar Kremlev, a Russian oligarch close to President Vladimir Putin and head of the International Boxing Association, paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for expenses at Donald Trump Jr.’s three-day Bahamas wedding in May, according to records reviewed by ProPublica and interviews with three people familiar with the event. Payments flowed through a Dubai-based entity affiliated with the IBA and covered items including the rental of a private island and a fireworks display, ProPublica reported. The arrangement represents the first publicly documented financial support from a member of Putin’s circle to a member of President Trump’s immediate family.
The wedding’s closing night fell on May 24, ProPublica reported, when scantily clad dancers in stilettos and sailor caps performed on a beach while Trump Jr. lifted his bride into the air and fireworks launched from a barge over the sea. The three-day celebration was held across a pair of ultra-exclusive private islands. A five-tier funfetti cake had been airlifted in from Florida, and helicopters and seaplanes descended on the islands before guests settled into their oceanfront villas. “It was everything we dreamed of and more,” his wife later wrote on Instagram.
The atmosphere, ProPublica reported, was Monte Carlo meets frat party — helicopters in and out, a beachside DJ set, beer pong tournaments. One day, the men went spearfishing. Artisans at the London fashion house Safiyaa spent 150 hours embroidering Anderson’s bespoke silk reception outfit. Trump Jr. had undergone treatment to better define his jawline for the occasion.
Trump Jr. exchanged vows with socialite Bettina Anderson on a private island featured in “Pirates of the Caribbean” and the 2006 James Bond movie “Casino Royale,” ProPublica reported. They had their first dance on a second private island nearby that can rent for around $100,000 a night, paid for by Kremlev. The company that put on the fireworks display charges around $70,000 for such shows. Kremlev did not attend the ceremony itself, which was held on the first day and had just 18 guests, Trump Jr.’s spokesperson said. “It was really small, like, just really close friends,” Trump Jr. later said on his podcast. “Tried to keep it really tight. And it was just awesome.”
The guest list numbered around 50 and included Trump Jr.’s brother-in-law Jared Kushner and Eric Trump, ProPublica reported. Some longtime friends of Trump Jr. told associates they were disappointed not to be invited, though executives at the Trump family crypto company, World Liberty Financial, and the venture capital firm 1789 Capital made the cut. President Trump himself skipped the event. “He’d like me to go, but it’s going to be just a small, little private affair,” the president told reporters beforehand. “I said, you know, this is not good timing for me.”
Kremlev, an imposing man with a shaved head who speaks limited English, attended with a larger Russian contingent whose presence puzzled other attendees, according to ProPublica. The Russian guests sometimes stood off by themselves, speaking their native language. “What are they doing here?” one person recalled thinking. At least one of them, Alexander Lagutin, had served in senior roles at a Russian defense contractor and a state-backed energy company and had been with Kremlev on a recent China trip accompanying Putin. Kremlev’s right hand at the IBA, Elena Sobol, also attended, ProPublica reported.
Since the wedding, the Trumps have released scores of photos and videos of the festivities, ProPublica reported. While they show many of the guests, the Russians have been absent from all of them — although the top of Kremlev’s head is visible in the back of one group photo posted on Instagram by a friend of the bride. On his “Triggered” podcast after the party, Trump Jr. emphasized the event’s privacy: “The people that were there — if you’re on that list, you weren’t talking.”
Kremlev, 43, became president of the IBA in 2020, ProPublica reported. The boxing association, something akin to FIFA for the sport, had been beset by corruption allegations and was on the brink of insolvency before Kremlev brought in tens of millions of dollars from Gazprom, the Russian state-owned energy giant. The Russian independent news outlet Proekt has reported that Kremlev had a criminal record for extortion and battery under his birth name, Umar Lutfulloyev, before changing his name in 2010 and rising through a Russian government-backed biker gang called the Night Wolves. “Mr. Kremlev has a completely clean legal record,” Kremlev’s press office told ProPublica.
According to Proekt, Kremlev’s close relationship with Alexei Rubezhnoi, who now leads Putin’s presidential security service, brought him into the IBA: Rubezhnoi personally intervened to install Kremlev at the Russian Boxing Federation in 2017. In 2023, the International Olympic Committee stripped the IBA of its role organizing Olympic boxing, citing governance issues and the group’s refusal to “transparently explain the sources of its financing or to explain its full financial dependency, at the time, on a single state-owned company.” Kremlev has raged against the Olympic committee ever since and has said his IBA predecessor, whom he blames for the problems, “must be shot,” ProPublica reported.
In the days leading up to Trump Jr.’s wedding, Kremlev was in China as part of a delegation accompanying Putin, according to Chinese state media. The month before, Putin had bestowed him with a state honor, the Order of Friendship. The Ukrainian government has imposed personal sanctions on Kremlev, citing his closeness to Putin and Russian security services, ProPublica reported. Kremlev’s press office said he was not part of Putin’s “official delegation.” Kremlev is also heavily involved in an organization called Healthy Fatherland, run by his 23-year-old wife’s twin sister, which Ukraine has sanctioned over its alleged role in a program of relocating Ukrainian children from occupied territories under the guise of “rehabilitation.” Healthy Fatherland did not respond to a request for comment.
Putin’s relationship with Kremlev has made him rich, ProPublica reported, citing Proekt. Putin used the levers of the Russian state to make Kremlev a dominant player in the country’s sports betting industry, and one of his companies was chosen to operate the national lottery. After Putin nationalized Russia’s largest car dealership company in 2023, Kremlev became the owner of that too, according to Proekt.
Kremlev flaunts that wealth through a boisterous public persona, ProPublica reported. In one video Kremlev posted on social media, he surprises a young mother by giving her a free car. In another, he criticizes his young female aide’s outfit as not feminine enough and makes her change. He shadowboxes with ostriches and brings in celebrities like Rick Ross and Naomi Campbell for IBA events; he praises Stalin and rides private jets.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the U.S. began to indict Russian oligarchs and seize yachts and other assets, ProPublica reported. Kremlev repeatedly told associates he was worried about being targeted by a U.S. government probe, according to a person close to IBA leadership. “He was very afraid of American sanctions,” the person added. Kremlev does not appear on public U.S. sanction lists, ProPublica noted.
With the business environment in Europe growing more hostile to Russia, Kremlev moved much of the IBA’s operations from Switzerland to the United Arab Emirates, ProPublica reported. The Dubai-based IB Challenger entity that paid wedding expenses for Trump Jr. was set up after that move. Kremlev’s press office said the IBA’s sponsorship contract with Gazprom “expired long ago,” though people close to the organization said they understood that its money still comes from Russia. Former high-level IBA officials told ProPublica that Kremlev had a clear political agenda. “Umar is guided by Putin. It was using the sport for soft political power,” a former IBA board member said. “It’s geopolitics. That it’s boxing is just happenstance.”
National security experts expressed alarm at Trump Jr. accepting the oligarch’s largesse, ProPublica reported. “If I’m paying for your wedding, at some point, you’re going to owe me something,” said Frank Montoya Jr., a retired career FBI official who held senior counterintelligence roles. “Oligarchs like Kremlev often act in coordination with the Russian government. While it’s unclear if that happened here, Trump Jr. put himself in a precarious position. This should be unthinkable for the son of the president. End of story.” Holden Triplett, who served as Trump’s counterintelligence director on the National Security Council during his first term and also worked for the FBI in Moscow, said Russian intelligence frequently seeks to build ties with U.S. officials and their family members. “Money is a tried-and-true method to gain access,” Triplett said.
A spokesperson for Trump Jr. did not dispute the wedding payments from Kremlev. “Umar is a personal friend of Don,” he said. The spokesman said that Kremlev is “not someone he has a business relationship with” and that the men met through a mutual friend in the hunting world and bonded over their love of boxing and the outdoors. A spokesperson for Eric Trump said of Kremlev: “Eric has absolutely no clue who this person is, nor has never heard his name.” Kremlev’s press office said the two men first met “a couple of years ago” and that Kremlev “has never discussed political matters with any of his American friends and acquaintances,” including Trump Jr. The office did not comment on payments from the Dubai entity but said the IBA itself did not incur expenses for the wedding. Kushner, who has been helping lead the U.S. government’s negotiations with Russia over Ukraine, did not respond to requests for comment. The White House and the Russian government did not respond either, ProPublica reported.
The relationship between Kremlev and Trump Jr. surfaced publicly in September 2025, when the IBA brought Trump Jr. to Istanbul for a panel discussion about boxing, ProPublica reported. Trump Jr. shared the stage with Kremlev, the boxer Manny Pacquiao and Muhammad Ali’s daughter Rasheda; Trump Jr.’s spokesperson said he was not paid for the appearance and was already in Turkey for an unrelated event. A press release from the IBA after the event said, “President Kremlev and Donald Trump Jr made it clear — this alliance will not remain symbolic. More joint initiatives will follow.” Earlier, in January 2025, Kremlev had sent an open letter to President Trump asking him to look into the IOC’s actions ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Games, writing, “We look forward with great optimism to the possibility of working together to make the Olympic movement great again.”
Trump Jr. had reason to be attuned to the sensitivity of accepting money from a Putin associate: a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with a Russian attorney, arranged after an email promising damaging information about Hillary Clinton as “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump,” became a major focus of the Robert Mueller investigation. Trump Jr. replied to the email, “If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer.” Trump Jr. later dismissed the matter as a “witch hunt,” and the Mueller report concluded there was not enough evidence to convict him of a crime, ProPublica noted.
Trump Jr. has emerged as a political force in his father’s second term, ProPublica reported. Vice President JD Vance told The Wall Street Journal in late 2024, “I certainly don’t think I’d be sitting here as the VP nominee without Don’s help.” The Journal called Trump Jr. his father’s “most essential political adviser,” and ProPublica reported he played an active role in vetting White House cabinet picks for the second term. Forbes has recently estimated Trump Jr.’s net worth at roughly $300 million. In July, Kremlev’s group hosted a bare-knuckle boxing event in Miami that was overshadowed when manosphere influencer Andrew Tate, whom the IBA had brought in to host, was arrested by U.S. Marshals outside the arena. Tate is facing rape and sex-trafficking charges in the United Kingdom, which he has denied, ProPublica reported. Much about Kremlev’s relationship with Trump Jr. — and where it is headed — remains unknown, ProPublica reported.