Integrity in the Trump family

Sept. 14, 2026 updated  4:31 p.m. ET New York Times

A Russian businessman with ties to the Kremlin paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to help finance Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding after-party in the Bahamas this year, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

The payments represented an extraordinary flouting of ethical norms for an American president’s family.

To avoid foreign influence, a president’s family is generally expected to steer clear of these sorts of personal and pricey gifts, particularly from someone in a country like Russia, an adversary known to surreptitiously push its geopolitical agenda. The concern, ethics experts say, is that a foreign actor could ply a president’s family member with gifts and eventually expect something in return.

Mr. Trump, the president’s eldest son, accepted the gifts from Umar Kremlev, the president of the International Boxing Association, according to the people with knowledge of the matter. The payments, reported earlier by ProPublica, included the cost of renting a private island and a fireworks display.