Who Is Umar Kremlev? The Russian Businessman With Ties to Putin Who Partly Funded Trump Jr.’s Wedding Celebrations
· Time
A Russian businessman with ties to the country’s President Vladimir Putin footed the bill for celebrations following the wedding of President Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., Trump Jr. and his wife, Bettina, have confirmed.
Visit lebandit.lat for more information.
Oligarch Umar Kremlev’s contributions to the wedding festivities were first reported by ProPublica, which wrote that the Russian businessman spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to rent out a private island in the Bahamas and a fireworks show. The outlet reported that the guest list included roughly 50 guests, including family members, close friends, and Kremlev, who according to ProPublica was part of a larger group of Russian guests whose presence was a source of confusion for other attendees.
Trump Jr. and Bettina Trump shared a statement on social media in response to criticism over his financial involvement in the event, defending what she described as an “extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend” and denying any political motive behind Kremlev’s attendance.
“Our dear friend Umar very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations for us AFTER our wedding,” they wrote in a post on Bettina Trump’s Instagram on Monday in a caption that accompanied a series of photos from the evenings in question showing the couple partying with other guests, performances, and the beach-side venue. “It’s unfortunate that something so personal and happy can be recast as something political or sinister simply because of who someone is or where they come from. Friendship doesn’t require a political motive.”
The Trumps’ connection to a figure closely tied to the leadership in Russia—and his apparently lavish financial contribution to the wedding celebrations—has however drawn concerns from Democratic politicians and experts in ethics and intelligence, who have raised questions about what might be expected in return for the "gift" and warned that Russian intelligence services may seek to weaponize such a relationship.
Here’s what to know about Kremlev and his ties to Putin and the Trump family.
Who is Umar Kremlev?
Kremlev, 43, is a native of Tajikistan. He was previously known by his surname at birth, Lutfulloyev, which he changed to Kremlev in 2010 when he was in his late twenties, according to the independent Russian news organization Proekt. Prior to that name change, Kremlev was convicted of extortion in 2004 and battery in 2007.
He went on to join a notorious biker gang, the Night Wolves, not long after changing his name, according to Russian news reports. Outlets reported that during his time in the group, which was the first official biker community in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Kremlev met Alexei Rubezhnoi, who currently leads Putin’s presidential security service. The Washington Post reported that Putin himself is considered an honorary member of the Night Wolves.
In 2015, Kremlev, who had boxed since he was a child, founded a company, Patriot, that promoted boxing matches. Two years later, he became the secretary general of the International Boxing Association (IBA) after a shake up led to Rubezhnoi becoming the chairman of its supervisory board. Rubezhnoi then nominated Kremlev to the secretary general position; from there, Kremlev went on to be elected as president of the IBA in 2020.
In 2024, Kremlev acquired Rolf, Russia’s largest car dealership group, which had previously been state-owned.
“These services,” Triplett says in reference to the Kremlin, “are exceptional at finding pain points and then and then manipulating them, and you can get people into difficult positions.”
What are Kremlev’s ties to Putin?
Kremlev has been connected with Putin for years, as has been documented through public appearances and business dealings.
During Kremlev’s time as IBA president, Gazprom, a state-owned energy company and one of the largest companies in Russia, became a financial backer of the boxing federation.
That same year, Kremlev stood alongside Putin during the opening of the International Boxing Center in Moscow.
Under Putin, many Russian government officials or oligarchs serve in supervisory positions for sports organizations in the country.
“Umar is guided by Putin. It was using the sport for soft political power,” an ex-IBA board member told ProPublica of Kremlev’s leadership of the organization. “It’s geopolitics. That it’s boxing is just happenstance.”
Following Kremlev’s acquisition of Rolf in 2024, meanwhile, Putin repealed the company’s federal ownership, which he had established through a presidential decree in 2023.
He was also honored by Putin with the Order of Friendship, according to the IBA, a state accolade that celebrates those who have helped to improve the Russian Federation in various sectors. And earlier this year, Kemlev accompanied Putin on a visit to China, according to Chinese state media. Kremlev’s press office told ProPublica in a statement that he was not part of the Russian President’s “official delegation” during the trip.
What are Kremlev’s ties to the Trump family?
Kremlev has been publicly linked to President Trump and Trump Jr. through the IBA in recent months. It’s unclear how else he may be connected with the Trump family.
After President Trump returned to the White House last year, Kremlev and the CEO of the boxing organization sent him an open letter congratulating him on his re-election and expressing the IBA’s “sincere gratitude for your strong and principled stance regarding the inadmissibility in the participation of ineligible athletes in women’s boxing competition,” in reference to Trump’s stance against the participation of transgender women in women’s sports.
The letter then nodded towards the 2028 Olympic Games, which will be hosted by the U.S. in Los Angeles, saying that the IBA looks ahead “with great optimism to the possibility of working together to make the Olympic movement great again, advance the sport of boxing and to champion the rights of athletes globally.”
Last September, Trump Jr. sat on a panel discussion hosted by the IBA in Istanbul, during which he also critiqued the participation of transgender women in women’s sports while onstage with Kremlev.
Kremlev’s press office said in its statement to ProPublica that he and Trump Jr. initially met “a couple years ago” and that the two men “have a friendly relationship.” It added that Kremlev “has never discussed political matters with any of his American friends and acquaintances,” Trump Jr. included.
A spokesperson for Trump Jr. told the New York Timesthat the two men bonded over boxing and hunting after meeting through a mutual friend, and that they are not in business with one another.
The President, who did not attend Trump Jr.’s wedding or the following celebrations, said in a statement provided to the Times on Monday that “I have no idea who Umar is, never heard of him, and he didn’t pay for Don and Bettina’s wedding, which took place at a totally different location, and on a different day.”
A spokeswoman for Eric Trump, Trump Jr.’s brother, meanwhile told the Times and ProPublica, “Eric has absolutely no clue who this person is.”
Intelligence experts raise concerns
“If the allegations are true, then it certainly reflects poor judgment on Donald Trump Jr.’s part,” Dan Hoffman, an intelligence expert with over 30 years of experience working in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), U.S. military, Department of State, and Department of Commerce, tells TIME. “It is highly unlikely Umar Kremlev would have any interaction with any member of the Trump family without the Kremlin knowing about it beforehand.”
Holden Triplett, who served nearly 15 years with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and was previously the Director for Counterintelligence at the National Security Council at the White House during Trump’s first Administration, says that any kind of relationship between an individual with ties to the President and someone linked to the Kremlin can pose a risk to the U.S.—though he says he doesn’t find the Trumps’ apparent relationship with Kremlev to be particularly alarming.
“Even the most above-board, non-threatening-nefarious relationship could be weaponized by intelligence services,” he tells TIME. “Russians commonly try to use, as a lot of intel agencies do, business relationships as a non-alarming way to establish connection with someone … It is one that the Russians have used with lots of, or attempts at least, with lots of other individuals in politics.”
This isn’t the first time Trump Jr. has drawn controversy over interactions related to Russia. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump Jr. met with a Russian lawyer who claimed she could provide information that would hurt his father’s Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton’s campaign. That meeting later became a point in the investigation special counsel Robert Mueller conducted into President Trump’s campaign and its ties to Russia, though Trump Jr. was never accused of wrongdoing in the probe.