A very expensive gift

Russian businessman Umar Kremlev paid for the celebrations after Donald Trump Jr.'s wedding, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a private Bahamian island and a fireworks show. ProPublica broke the story.

Fifty guests, some puzzling

Roughly 50 people attended: family, close friends, and Kremlev, who came with a larger group of Russian guests. Other attendees were confused about who they were.

The couple push back

Trump Jr. and his wife Bettina posted photos from the two nights and called it a generous gift from a friend, rejecting any political reading of Kremlev's presence.

“Friendship doesn't require a political motive.”

From Lutfulloyev to Kremlev

Kremlev, 43, was born in Tajikistan under the surname Lutfulloyev. He changed it in 2010, after convictions for extortion in 2004 and battery in 2007.

The biker gang connection

He joined the Night Wolves, the first official biker club in the USSR, where he met Alexei Rubezhnoi. Rubezhnoi now runs Putin's presidential security service. Putin is an honorary member of the club.

Boxing as a career ladder

Kremlev founded the boxing promoter Patriot in 2015. Two years later Rubezhnoi, newly chairman of the International Boxing Association's supervisory board, nominated him as secretary general. He became IBA president in 2020.

Then came the car empire

In 2024 he acquired Rolf, Russia's largest car dealership group, which had been state-owned. Putin then repealed the federal ownership he had imposed by decree a year earlier.

Sport as soft power

Gazprom, the state energy giant, began funding the IBA during his presidency, and he stood beside Putin to open Moscow's International Boxing Center. In Russia, officials and oligarchs routinely run sports bodies.

“Umar is guided by Putin. It was using the sport for soft political power.”

Decorated and travelling with Putin

Putin awarded him the Order of Friendship, a state honor for service to Russia. Earlier this year he joined Putin on a trip to China, though his office says he was not in the official delegation.

The letter to the White House

After Trump's re-election, Kremlev and the IBA's CEO sent an open letter thanking him for opposing transgender women in women's boxing, and floated working together on the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

“the possibility of working together to make the Olympic movement great again”

Boxing, hunting, a friendship

Trump Jr. shared an IBA panel stage with Kremlev in Istanbul last September. His spokesperson says the two met through a mutual friend, bonded over boxing and hunting, and do no business together.

The president says who?

Trump, who attended neither the wedding nor the parties, told the Times he has never heard of Kremlev. Eric Trump's spokeswoman said the same.

“I have no idea who Umar is, never heard of him”

What the spies worry about

Ex-CIA officer Dan Hoffman doubts the Kremlin was unaware. Former FBI counterintelligence official Holden Triplett says even a clean friendship can be weaponized, and Russia often opens with business ties.

“These services are exceptional at finding pain points and then manipulating them.”

He has been here before

In 2016, Trump Jr. met a Russian lawyer offering dirt on Hillary Clinton. The meeting became part of the Mueller investigation, though he was never accused of wrongdoing.