The relationship between Donald Trump’s eldest son and oligarch Umar Kremlev appears to have taken a controversial new turn.
POOL/Alec Tabak/via REUTERS
Donald Trump Jr. reportedly discussed possible business deals with the Kremlin-linked oligarch who helped finance his lavish wedding in the Bahamas.
The president’s eldest son spoke with Umar Kremlev during a trip to Kazakhstan earlier this year, according to two sources familiar with the meeting who spoke to independent Russian media outlet Important Stories, a partner of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project network.
Kremlev is head of the International Boxing Association, which helped finance Trump Jr.’s lavish May wedding to Bettina Anderson and later joined him on an August hunting trip to picturesque western Mongolia.
Trump Jr. is facing increased scrutiny over his friendship with oligarch Kremlev.
He is also considered a close confidant of sanctioned Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin.
Anderson called Kremlev a “dear friend” of the couple. Trump Jr. has insisted there was nothing untoward about his friendship with the powerful Russian tycoon, and it’s unclear what exactly he might have discussed with Kremlev during their alleged meeting in Kazakhstan.
The president’s son reportedly struggled to avoid being photographed with the Russian businessman during their trip to Mongolia.
Instagram/Dastan Moukhamedrakhim
But claims that the relationship could now expand to include potential business dealings will likely fuel new security concerns over Trump Jr.’s closeness to an alleged member of Putin’s inner circle.
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The first family is already facing scrutiny over allegations that it is cashing in on its influence during Trump’s second presidency, with Democrats bracing for congressional investigations after sweeping the House and Senate in Tuesday’s midterms.
Sources who know Kremlev personally told Important Stories that the businessman is an important enough figure in Moscow to travel with armed guards in vehicles provided by the Russian National Guard.
This is a level of federal protection granted only to powerful state officials or other figures designated by the Russian president himself.
The Kremlin is said to be close to Putin.
MAXIM SHIPENKOV/via REUTERS
Kremlev’s associates also said he had a close relationship with Alexei Rubezhnoi, the head of Russia’s presidential security services, who allegedly helped him build and protect his business empire.
President Trump has spent the better part of a decade fending off questions about his own ties to the Putin regime.
U.S. investigators concluded that Moscow interfered in the 2016 presidential election to help him win, even as his company pursued plans deep into that campaign to build a skyscraper in Moscow.
Trump Jr. also met with a Russian lawyer during this campaign after receiving damaging information about Hillary Clinton.
Special counsel Robert Mueller later documented numerous contacts between Trump associates and figures linked to Russia, but did not establish that his 2016 campaign conspired or coordinated with the Kremlin.
Family businesses since Trump took over the White House have led to increased scrutiny of his relationships with wealthy figures in the former Soviet Union.
The Trump brothers are facing increased scrutiny over their business dealings during their father’s second administration.
The Daily Beast revealed in May that a developer involved in Eric and Donald Trump Jr.’s 70-story skyscraper project in Tbilisi, Georgia, had ties to billionaire former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, who made his fortune in Russia.
Washington sanctioned Ivanishvili in 2024 for helping the Kremlin undermine democracy in his own country.
A subsequent investigation by the Daily Beast, its sister Substack PunchUp, and The Newsground revealed another Russian connection through Biograpi Living, a company publicly identified as a partner in the Tbilisi project.
The group is partly owned by Paata Gamgoneishvili, a Georgian oligarch who built his fortune in Moscow alongside his long-time associate Roland Isaev.
The Trumps supported the construction of a new skyscraper in Tbilisi, capital of the Republic of Georgia.
Biograpi has denied that he or Gamgoneishvili have any real interest in the development, despite Trump naming the company in his press release earlier this year.
And in September, it emerged that the developers behind the tower deal had paid $85 million to a foundation owned by Ivanishvili for the land beneath the project. The relatives who oversee this foundation are not themselves subject to American sanctions.
Trump Jr. also already has business interests in Kazakhstan, where he reportedly met with Kremlev earlier this year.
In 2025, he invested with his brother Eric Trump in Skyline Builders, which later purchased a 20% stake in tungsten mining company Kaz Resources.
The United States and Kazakhstan signed an agreement six days after this purchase to allow a Kaz Resources group company access to tungsten deposits in the Karaganda region, one of the largest in the world.
At least two US federal agencies have since floated the idea of providing a combined $1.6 billion in funding for the project.
The Daily Beast has reached out to representatives for Trump Jr. and the White House for comment on this story.
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