Hunter Biden has been laying low in a lavish Los Angeles home and working on art for his upcoming gallery show since his father’s inauguration.
The 50-year-old son of President Joe Biden has been traveling back and forth between Washington, DC, and a 2,000-square-foot Hollywood Hills home in California, while consulting with lawyers and creating his artwork, according to the New York Post.
Hunter is said to be in the midst of preparing to show his work with NYC art dealer Georges Berges, who opened his Soho gallery, George Berges Gallery, in 2015.
Hunter Biden is pictured in February 2020, alongside his artwork, in his art studio at the $12,000-per-month Hollywood Hills rental he’s been living in with his wife and child
Hunter Biden (left, with father President Biden in 2019) has been traveling back and forth from Washington, DC, and the Hollywood Hills home
Biden has been living in this $3.8million Hollywood Hills home since January 2020
Berges’ roster of artists includes Sylvester Stallone and Bahraini royal family member, Sheikh Rashid Al Khalifa.
The gallery owner was accused of defrauding an investor in 2016 and settled the case in 2018.
In 1998, he charged with assault with a deadly weapon and making ‘terrorist threats’ in California, serving 90 days in jail and receiving a 36 month probation.
Hunter is reported to be gearing up to show his work at a NYC gallery owned by Georges Berges (pictured)
It’s unclear who was the supposed victim of the threats and assault.
Berges also has strong ties to China, according to the New York Post, which noted that he regularly exhibited works by Chinese artists and once said he was eager to open up galleries in Beijing and Shanghai.
Hunter has been living in the Hollywood Hills home with his wife, Melissa Cohen, and their son since January 2020.
The three-bedroom, three-bathroom home – worth $3.8million – is reported to be connected with Los Angeles-based entrepreneur and real estate investor, Shane Khoh.
Khoh is the CEO of SXU Investment Holdings LLC, which has owned the property since 2011, and sits on the board of Singapore-based real estate holding company Siong Heng Realty Pte Ltd., according to public records and his LinkedIn profile obtained by the New York Post.
In a January 2020 interview with the Washington Examiner, Kohn said that Biden was paying $12,000 a month to rent the home, but denied having any prior relationship with either Hunter or his wife before they rented it.
‘I don’t know them at all. I put it out on the market, and they rented it,’ Khoh said at the time.
Hunter is pictured with wife Melissa Cohen (in red) and their child on January 20. The family has been living in the Hollywood Hills home since January 2020
Hunter is pictured on his father’s inauguration day, hugging President Biden and stepmom, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden. Hunter said
The Hollywood Hills home (pictured) Hunter is living in is reported to be connected with Los Angeles-based entrepreneur and real estate investor, Shane Khoh
Khoh is the CEO of SXU Investment Holdings LLC and sits on the board of Singapore-based real estate holding company Siong Heng Realty Pte Ltd. The Hollywood Hills home is shown
Hunter turned a pool house on the property into his art studio when he moved in. The home’s swimming pool is pictured
Khoh said that he didn’t know Hunter or his wife prior to their renting the home (pictured). He said that he had just put it on the market and they rented it from him
Hunter’s Skaneateles LLC lists the Hollywood Hills home (pictured) as one of its addresses
When asked about renting the home to Hunter this week, however, Khoh told the New York Post that he had ‘nothing to say about Hunter Biden. I have no comment.’
The home was featured prominently in a New York Times profile of Hunter in February 2020, when he discussed his new foray into art.
Hunter had transformed a pool house on the property into an art studio, where he created abstract artwork described as being ‘psychedelic florals and ethereal patterns.’
His medium was alcohol ink and Japanese Yupo paper.
Hunter, who doesn’t have formal art training, but had been sketching since childhood, said at the time that painting was ‘literally keeping me sane’ and that it hadn’t been an impulsive decision to become an artist.
Hunter has had trouble with crack and alcohol addiction and is being probed for several deals he made abroad, including deals made in China.
‘For years I wouldn’t call myself an artist. Now I feel comfortable saying it,’ he told the New York Times.
Art critic Anthony Haden-Guest told the New York Post that Biden’s work ‘was pretty interesting stuff. He’s got talent.’
Although Hunter has gotten rid of several of his old business interests, he does still have control of an LLC that has a 10 per cent stake in BHR Partners, a Chinese private-equity firm that reportedly has $2billion in assets and is partly owned by the Bank of China.
The stake is owned by Skaneateles LLC, a company named after Hunter’s mother’s upstate New York hometown. The Hollywood Hills home Hunter is living in is listed as one of the LLC’s addresses.
Hunter’s mother – Neilia Hunter Biden – died in a 1972 car crash in Delaware that also killed his one-year-old sister Naomi. Then toddlers Hunter and older brother Beau were injured in the accident.
National Legal Policy Center director Thomas Anderson told the New York Post that ‘Hunter Biden’s tangled web of shell companies, LLCs, investment vehicles, and options agreements make it virtually impossible to know where he is getting income from.’
Anderson added that if Hunter were to sell his art to wealthy investors, it could be a way to make a lot of cash.
‘We highly doubt, however, a career as an artist will do anything more than act as a vehicle to further shield where that income is coming from,’ Anderson said.
It’s unclear when Hunter’s art might go on display at Berges’ gallery. It’s been reported that is show will occur later this year, but there is no listing for it on the gallery’s website and a gallery worker told the New York Post that they were unaware of an upcoming exhibition of his work.
Neither Berges or Biden’s lawyer, George Mesires, have commented about the report.
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