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Umar Kremlev, born Umar Lutfulloyev, helped fund Trump Jr.’s wedding celebrations and received Putin’s Order of Friendship a month earlier. The Russian investigative outlet Proekt reported extortion and battery convictions, which Kremlev denies. He joined the Night Wolves, was introduced to the man who later became head of Putin’s presidential security service and is tied to a group Ukraine accuses of abducting children.
Umar Kremlev’s rise has intersected with Vladimir Putin’s government, Russian state institutions and international boxing. His relationship with the president’s son is now drawing scrutiny in Washington.
In April, the International Boxing Association said President Vladimir Putin had awarded its president, Umar Kremlev, the Order of Friendship, a Russian state honor.
A month later, Kremlev was in the Bahamas helping pay for wedding celebrations for Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son.
The payments, first reported by ProPublica, totaled hundreds of thousands of dollars, including the rental of a private island and fireworks. Trump Jr. and his wife, Bettina Trump, later confirmed that Kremlev hosted two nights of celebrations after their family ceremony and described the spending as a generous wedding gift from a friend.
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