The Corner

Politics & Policy

A Curious Footnote on Hunter Biden and Burisma

A footnote to my piece on political teams . . . and a loose thread that NR Co-Counsel McCarthy and McLaughlin may wish to tug on. It has been reported, without pushback by the story’s subjects, that Hunter Biden was paid $50,000 per month for his service on the Burisma board while his fellow directors were being paid $5,000 per month. In Western companies, all directors receive the same compensation, save for small bumps to those chairing board committees. If a company pays Director Smith even a dollar more than it pays Director Jones, for instance, the company’s annual proxy statement, a public document, must explain why Smith delivered more value to the company than Jones. Those explanations frequently excite negative publicity and, more than occasionally, regulatory curiosity, which is why Western companies almost always compensate board members equally. The question, then, is this: How did Burisma explain the extraordinary compensation paid to Hunter Biden? His board colleagues, the guys who actually knew something about finding, refining and transporting fossil fuels, wouldn’t have been the only interested parties.

Neal B. Freeman, a former editor of National Review, served in appointed positions in the Nixon, Reagan, and Bush 41 administrations.
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