Identities of Hunter Biden Art Buyers Revealed. Another ‘Pay-to-Play Scheme’ Discovered?

Business Insider learned the identities of two Hunter Biden “friends” who purchased his artwork.

According to the outlet, sales of Hunter Biden’s artwork reached $1.3 million.

The outlet revealed two of these buyers were Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali and Kevin Morris.

Hirsh Naftali is a “significant Democratic donor” who’s “influential in California Democratic circles,” the outlet reports.

The outlet said another buyer, who spent $875,000 on Hunter Biden’s artworks, remains unidentified.

NEW – Hunter Biden's art got sold to a Democratic donor "friend" who Joe Biden named to a prestigious commission. Another buyer spent $875,000 on Hunter's "artworks."https://t.co/Zs7FWV1ujk

— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) July 25, 2023

In regard to Hirsh Naftali, it appears Biden may have granted her a favor for purchasing Hunter Biden’s artworks.

“Major Democratic donor and Biden-appointed commissioner Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali has been revealed as a buyer of Hunter Biden’s art, revealing potentially another pay-to-play scheme,” the House Oversight Committee wrote.

🚨 Major Democratic donor and Biden-appointed commissioner Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali has been revealed as a buyer of Hunter Biden’s art, revealing potentially another pay-to-play scheme. https://t.co/vLx2ZwOMC0

— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) July 24, 2023

Business Insider reports:

Hunter Biden did in fact learn the identity of two buyers, according to three people directly familiar with Hunter Biden’s own account of his art career. And one of those buyers is indeed someone who got a favor from the Biden White House. The timing of their purchase, however, is unknown.

That buyer, Insider can reveal, is Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali, a Los Angeles real estate investor and philanthropist. Hirsh Naftali is influential in California Democratic circles and is a significant Democratic donor who has given $13,414 to the Biden campaign and $29,700 to the Democratic National Campaign Committee this year. In 2022, she hosted a fundraiser headlined by Vice President Kamala Harris.

Insider also obtained internal documents from Hunter Biden’s gallery showing that a single buyer purchased $875,000 of his art. The documents do not indicate the buyer’s identity, which is also unknown to Insider at this time.

In July 2022, eight months after Hunter Biden’s first art opening, Joe Biden announced Hirsh Naftali’s appointment to the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad. It is unclear whether Hirsh’s purchase of Hunter Biden’s artwork occurred before or after that appointment. Membership on the commission is an unpaid position that is often filled by campaign donors, family members, and political allies — the same crowd that often winds up with US ambassadorial appointments. Hirsh Naftali’s fundraising activities mark her as the kind of well-connected donor who often wins such appointments, regardless of any relationship they might have with the president’s family. But they do not address the possibility that Hunter Biden might have voiced his support for her appointment.

Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali’s bio for the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Board reads:

Elizabeth (Liz) Hirsh Naftali runs and owns a commercial real estate company in Los Angeles’ Fashion District. She has served on the board of Oakwood School in North Hollywood since 2002 and was the Board Chair from 2012 to 2015. She also currently serves on the board of the IKAR Shul in Los Angeles and the RAND Corporation Center for Middle East Public Policy.

In 2007, Hirsh Naftali developed BIG Giving, a philanthropic branch of the company she co-founded, BIG Shopping Centers, that primarily supports educational, developmental, and co-existence programs for Jewish and Arab children across Israel. She remains active in her philanthropy in Israel working with the Tel Aviv Foundation and Babylonian Jewry Museum. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, Hirsh Naftali started the Make More Masks Campaign, producing and distributing over 100,000 masks to keep those most vulnerable in our communities safe.

“An administration official told Insider that her appointment had been recommended to Biden by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. They said there was no connection between her art purchases and her appointment,” Business Insider wrote.

“The only other art buyer known to Hunter Biden, according to the three people directly familiar with Hunter Biden’s own account, is Kevin Morris, a wealthy Los Angeles attorney who has become Biden’s confidant and financial backer,” the outlet noted.