Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of US President Donald Trump, and his wife, Bettina Anderson Trump, confirmed Monday that a Russian oligarch close to President Vladimir Putin had funded their wedding celebrations in the Bahamas in May. The confirmation came after an investigation by the American investigative outlet ProPublica revealed that Umar Kremlev, president of the International Boxing Association (IBA), covered costs totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars for the event.
Trump Jr. married Bettina Anderson on May 22. In the days that followed, the couple held celebrations attended by roughly 50 guests, including Eric and Ivanka Trump, as well as Kremlev himself. Trump however, did not attend his son's wedding.
"He'd like me to go, but it's going to be just a small, little private affair," he told reporters before the wedding. "I said, you know, this is not good timing for me."
According to the investigation, which was based on documents and interviews with three sources familiar with the event, the celebrations spanned two private islands. The ceremony took place on one island, while the party, where guests also stayed overnight, was held on a neighboring island funded by Kremlev at a cost of roughly $100,000 a night.
But he didn't stop there. He also covered the cost of the fireworks display, for which the production company typically charges around $70,000 for such shows, and his staff helped produce the event. The payments were routed through a Dubai-based company linked to the boxing federation he leads, although Kremlev was not present at the actual ceremony, according to a spokesperson for Trump Jr.
Kremlev has led the IBA since 2020. In April of this year, Putin awarded him the Order of Friendship (a Russian state honor for service to the country), while Ukraine imposed personal sanctions on him over his ties to the Russian president and his country's security services. In the days leading up to the wedding, he was in China as part of a delegation accompanying Putin, according to Chinese state media, though his office insists he wasn't officially part of that group. The federation he heads is also mired in controversy. It has been funded in recent years by the Russian energy giant Gazprom, and in 2023 the International Olympic Committee stripped it of recognition, alleging it had refused to disclose the sources of its funding.
Also among the wedding guests was Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, who serves as his envoy on various fronts, including negotiations with Russia to end the war in Ukraine. Earlier this month, Kushner and fellow envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin in the Kremlin, and the following day with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, in their first visit to the city since the war began. Kushner did not respond to ProPublica's inquiries, nor did the White House or the Russian government.
In a post on her Instagram account, Bettina Trump said the couple claimed Kremlev had not funded the wedding itself, and that the following weekend had been planned in advance as a vacation with friends rather than a wedding event. "Our dear friend Umar very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations for us AFTER our wedding," the post read. "It was an extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend, and something for which we were and remain incredibly grateful."
The post continued, "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. Generosity doesn't automatically come with an agenda. And sometimes a wedding gift is simply a wedding gift."
Alongside the post, the couple included 20 previously unpublished photos from the event. "So, for anyone determined not to let the facts get in the way of a good story: NO CONSPIRACY, NO MYSTERY," they wrote.
