lindsay fox yacht party

Trucking magnate, Lindsay Fox celebrates his 85th birthday with an all-expenses paid luxury cruise onboard Seabourn Quest for his mates

Trucking magnate, lindsay fox, never does things by halves. to mark his 85 th birthday, mr fox is throwing a birthday bash like no other, inviting a string of who’s who in melbourne business community, to his 12-day cruise on board the luxury seabourn quest from new york to montreal at an estimated cost of $5 million..

Fellow billionaires Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest, retail king Solomon Lew, property billionaire John Gandel, SEEK founder Andrew Basset, Linfox board members Bill Kelty and Simon Crean, tv presenter Eddie McGuire and Infrastructure Partnerships chair Rod Eddington are expected to turn up on Seabourn Quest , complete with pool deck, piano bar, observation bar, sky deck and the must-have water toys.

Seabourn Quest is renowned for its fine dining options including The Grill by Thomas Keller, the culinary American chef exclusive to the fleet. The elegant dining room prides itself in serving table-side preparations of Caesar salad and favourites such as Lobster Thermidor served with creamed spinach. The timeless menu which draws on the freshest products from artisan purveyors is complemented with a wine list of domestic and old-world labels.

Birthday festivities will include a pyjama party with sleeping gear provided by Mr Lew’s popular Peter Alexander brand to all guests and a fireworks display.

It is understood guests will pay their own way to get to the cruise while Mr Fox will pick up the tab for all expenses on the cruise.

Prices of a 12-day cruise on the same itinerary on a similar luxury liner start from $10,000 pp for a standard cabin to $25,000 pp for a penthouse suite.

Mr Eddington, a 1974 Rhodes Scholar confirmed he will be on the birthday cruise adding that Mr Fox often jokes that he is also a Rhodes Scholar but spelt “r-o-a-d-s” scholar, according to the Australian Financial Review.

This is not the first time that Mr Fox has celebrated his birthday with a luxury cruise. When he turned 80, he also charted a luxury liner and invited about 400 guests for a Mediterranean cruise from Athens to Venice. His guests included former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett, Lloyd Williams and Andrew Forrest. Celebrations culminated in a extravagant fireworks display in Venice.

Mr Fox has already turned 85 birthday on April 19.

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Inside the society wedding of the year: Grandson of billionaire trucking tycoon Lindsay Fox ties the knot with his glamorous girlfriend at sprawling $50m Toorak family residence

By Jade Watkins for Daily Mail Australia

Published: 16:51 EDT, 18 December 2022 | Updated: 18:46 EDT, 18 December 2022

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The grandson of billionaire trucking magnate Lindsay Fox is no longer one of Melbourne 's most eligible bachelors.

Harry Fox married his glamorous girlfriend Kristen Fowler at the family's sprawling $50million Toorak mansion over the weekend.

The pair exchanged vows in front of a backdrop of stunning white roses in the gardens of the residence, before holding a ritzy reception at the State Library of Victoria.

The grandson of billionaire trucking magnate Lindsay Fox, Harry Fox, married his glamorous girlfriend Kristen Fowler at the Fox family's multimillion dollar Toorak mansion over the weekend

Kristen, who works as a senior associate at PwC Australia, wore a white off-the-shoulder gown by Mariana Hardwick and a long veil.

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She accessorised with a crown fit for a society queen and a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes.

Meanwhile Harry looked dashing in a white tuxedo jacket, black trousers and a black bow-tie.

The bride wore a beautiful white off the shoulder gown by Mariana Hardwick and a long veil 

The pair exchanged vows in front of a backdrop of stunning white roses in the gardens of the residence

Kristen's gown featured a dramatic long train that fanned out behind her 

Guests threw white confetti into the air as the couple exchanged vows and walked down the aisle together 

The wedding was a star-studded affair, with guest including AFL stars, Luke McDonald and Jack Billings, actress Krista Vendy and Channel 10 weatherman Mark Larkan, who acted as MC at the reception.

For the party, the bride slipped into a second dress - a daring thigh-split beaded frock.

Guests sipped on espresso martinis and the couple carved up the dancefloor to music by violinist Sally Cooper and DJ Perri Lee.

The couple signed their wedding certificate at a small table adorned with white flowers 

They later held a reception at the State Library of Victoria. Channel 10 weatherman Mark Larkan acted as MC at the reception

The couple are pictured enjoying their first dance at a reception at the State Library of Victoria  

The couple toasted to their marriage with a pyramid of champaign glasses as the reception got under way  

Their wedding cake was a simple yet chic design - a four-tiered creation adorned with white orchids. 

The stylish cake also featured the initials K&H on the side. 

Harry's dad is Andrew Fox, who looks after his father Lindsay's Linfox airport and property.

Their wedding cake was a simple yet chic design - a four-tiered creation adorned with white orchids

The stylish wedding cake also featured the initials K&H on the side  

Kristen previously worked as a model and promotional host, working at events such as Glamour on the Grid at Australian Grand Prix and the Brownlow Medal. 

She was represented by WINK Models and has appeared in a number of glamorous photo shoots for fashion and beauty brands.  

Harry and Kristen got engaged several months ago in March. 

Guests sipped on espresso martinis and the couple carved up the dancefloor to music by violinist Sally Cooper and DJ Perri Lee

Harry and Kristen got engaged several months ago in March. The couple are pictured in their engagement announcement post 

Kristen recently attended her hen do at Sydney's ritzy Hyde Hacienda Bar. The bronzed brunette wore in a white feathered mini dress and matching headpiece as she and her gal pals celebrated her impending nuptials

They then enjoyed a luxury cruise aboard Lindsay's 650-feet yacht to Montreal with the entire Fox family to celebrate the trucking tycoon's 85th birthday. 

Lindsay Fox is worth an estimated $3.72 billion. 

He started his trucking company Linfox in 1956 with just one truck. It is now one of Australia's biggest private logistics company, with more than 5,000 trucks across 10 countries in Asia Pacific.

Photos from the extravagant party show Kristen posing with cookies that featured photos of her husband-to-be on them 

She completed her look with chunky glittery-covered heels and a diamond bangle

Kristen recently attended her hen do at Sydney's ritzy Hyde Hacienda Bar. 

The bronzed brunette wore in a white feathered mini dress and matching headpiece as she and her gal pals celebrated her impending nuptials. 

She completed her look with chunky glittery-covered heels and a diamond bangle.  

One Instagram photo from the hen do showed Kristen wearing a custom-made veil with the words 'Soon to be Mrs Fox' emblazoned on the back 

Photos from the extravagant party show Kristen posing with cookies that featured photos of her husband-to-be on them. 

The couple also threw themselves a lavish engagement party on May 14.

Harry wore a blue suit and white button-up shirt for the event, while Kristen turned heads in a gold ruched mini dress with one shoulder and stiletto heels. 

The couple also threw themselves a lavish engagement party on May 14

Share or comment on this article: Grandson of billionaire trucking tycoon Lindsay Fox marries girlfriend at family's Toorak mansion

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Partying with Lindsay Fox can get you more than a hangover

The billionaire trucker is gearing up for another of his legendary birthday parties — sometimes costly affairs for some partygoers.

Stephen Mayne

Sep 06, 2022

The extravagant $5 million 85th birthday bash for Lindsay Fox reportedly involves a 12-day cruise from New York to Montreal. Throw in travel time and the 450 guests are expected to be out of the country for more than two weeks. If you plan to attend, just make sure your bosses give the sign-off.

The billionaire trucker has a long history of extravagant birthday parties — whether it was the $8 million three-day celebration at the Sydney Opera House for his 70th or the celebration of 80 years since his conception on what was dubbed a Love Boat cruise of the Mediterranean with the likes of Joe Hockey, Greg Norman and Jeff Kennett.

However, it was a cruise down the Nile celebrating his 55th birthday in 1992 which wasn’t so good for the career of then ANZ Bank CEO Will Bailey, whose tenure was suddenly cut short after some of the directors read in the media about his attendance.

Complaints were raised with then ANZ chair Milton Bridgland, and when he wouldn’t take action the board installed John Gough as the new chair who then quickly moved against Bailey. Bailey died in 2020.

ANZ almost went broke during Paul Keating’s recession we had to have, and after Bailey’s forced early departure new CEO Don Mercer revealed a shock $600 million loss.

Extravagant travel and partying is never a good look for public company CEOs or politicians, so Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp may want to rethink her decision to take personal leave and attend this latest Fox bash. 

Just as ANZ was struggling in 1992, the Melbourne CBD is a way off fully recovering from the COVID lockdowns. Indeed, perhaps Capp should be castigating Fox for not hosting his milestone birthday parties in his home town of Melbourne — particularly this year when the ravaged tourism sector needs all the help it can get.

About the Author

Columnist and Crikey Founder @MayneReport

Stephen Mayne founded Crikey in February 2000 and has remained as a contributor since selling it in 2005. He’s a former Kennett government staffer and City of Melbourne councillor who is currently serving on City of Manningham in Melbourne’s east. He has also worked and volunteered in the shareholder advocacy and gambling reform space.

• Lindsay Fox

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Don’t get me started on Sally Capp, who carped on and on about get back to the office so we may proper during a deadly pandemic. Get over it Sally, maybe the city was heaving to the point where some of us avoided it for years. It was so crowded there that there was inevitably someone in your personal space of 17″ so great way to catch the flu or a cold, let alone Covid. Talk about ruining a once great city before there was even a pandemic. This soiree of hers just confirms my disgust.

So while we’re all dragged back to the office (the remainder of us contracting COVID, just to finish off the project), Sally’s off having fun on Fox’s dime. Great look. Is Dan going too?

‘.. what was  dubbed a  Love Boat  cruise  of the Mediterranean with the likes of Joe Hockey, Greg Norman and Jeff Kennett.’

This is the premise for a series of nightmares in the wee hours for the remainder of the week.

“castigating Fox for not hosting his milestone birthday parties in his home town of Melbourne”

Perhaps lay claim to further public beach for such important individual pursuits.

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Fresh claims about Melbourne magnate’s superyacht voyage

Fresh claims have been made about Melbourne property magnate Mark Simonds’ family trip to Queensland aboard luxury yacht, Lady Pamela.

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Fresh claims have been made about Melbourne property magnate Mark Simonds’ family voyage to Queensland aboard luxury superyacht Lady Pamela as police investigations are underway.

On Wednesday A Current Affair reported the Simonds party are staying in quarantine in the king suite of Queensland’s QT hotel after being moved from their luxury yacht.

The multi-millionaire Mark Simonds, his glamorous wife Cheryl, their son Vallance and his girlfriend Hannah Fox, were taken by minibus to the hotel after Queensland Health revoked their COVID-19 related exemption on Tuesday.

The boat had been given permission to enter the state.

It is unclear whether the three crew who served the three Simonds and Ms Fox, who is the granddaughter of Victorian trucking billionaire Lindsay Fox, are isolating at the same hotel.

It comes as a NSW local also told the program he saw a person he believed to have come off the boat near Eden - further down the coast.

There is no suggestion that any of the passengers did anything unlawful. Nobody has been arrested or charged over the incident.

Both Queensland and NSW Police are probing allegations about the Simonds voyage which left Melbourne on August 9 and arrived in Queensland after six stops en route.

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On Monday NSW Police Force’s Marine Area Command confirmed it was investigating the movements of the vessel while in NSW waters.

“This includes inquiries into the activities of the occupants where the vessel may have docked along the NSW coast and whether there are breaches of Public Health Orders.”

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller later said: “There are not two standards for those who have, and those who have not.”

Queensland’s chief health officer Jeanette Young said the COVID-19 exemption plan under which the Lady Pamela was “was for 14 days out at sea”.

“They have to be on that yacht with no contact with anyone, the yacht with no-one going on or off,” Ms Young said.

ACA also reported that the yacht had a “movement of freight permit” issued by Service NSW, which police are now investigating.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she was “disgusted” by the allegations.

“I am disgusted about it, and now there is a criminal investigation because it puts the community at risk,” she said, according to a report in The Age.

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The Simonds Homes chief executive and his family sailed up the east coast on their superyacht, more than a month after Linfox trucking heir Peter Fox, the father of Hannah Fox, went to the Gold Coast.

On Tuesday afternoon, health officers boarded the Simonds yacht and gave COVID-19 tests to the family party and three crew.

That night, police boarded the yacht – which has its own Instagram page, livery, and uniformed staff – and disembarked all seven for quarantine in a government-approved hotel.

A Queensland Health spokesman said the state’s Chief Health Officer has “revoked her exemption for seven people aboard the Lady Pamela vessel.”

“All seven people are now required to quarantine in a government-approved hotel for 14 days at their own expense.”

“Attempting to bypass or manipulate Queensland’s border direction is unacceptable.”

It’s understood new information provided to Queensland Health indicated the owner was granted the exemption approval based on incomplete information.

A Current Affair filmed Mr Simonds and his wife Cheryl enjoying drinks with friends on the deck of the Lady Pamela, others jumping off the side for a swim or cruising in an inflatable dinghy during one of the stopovers on the voyage north.

The 30m Italian built marble and gold finished Lady Pamela was just one of several ways rich Victorians were leaving the state during lockdown.

It has also been revealed that other wealthy Victorians are leaving the state in private jets to avoid Premier Daniel Andrews’ strict COVID-19 lockdown laws.

Daily Mail Australia reported Victoria’s elite with private aircraft were even asking pilots to turn off the plane’s transponders to escape detection.

Mr Simonds is the latest of Victoria’s wealthy trying to escape masks and COVID-19 restrictions for the Queensland sunshine.

Both he and Mr Fox and their families were granted exemptions for different reasons despite Queensland having forbidden the entry of most Victorian visitors. That was until Queensland Health revoked the exemption for the Simonds party.

Premier Andrews has been severely criticised for his plan to extend the government’s ability to enforce COVID-19 restrictions by extending Victoria’s state of emergency by 18 months.

A Current Affair reported earlier this month that Mr Fox, his wife Lisa and two other of their children had moved to the Gold Coast under a rule allowing truck drivers to enter the state.

Mr Fox told ACA he had a trucking licence, had brought a truck down to the Gold Coast from Cairns and was now a Queensland resident.

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The family is renting a multi-millionaire dollar waterfront mansion from former Grand Prix motorcycle road racing world champion Mick Doohan where he told Nine he could keep his family “healthy and safe”.

Mr Fox is one of six children of Linfox founder and self made billionaire Lindsay Fox and is Executive Chairman of the Linfox group.

Mr Simonds is one of three sons of Gary Simonds who founded the construction empire Simonds Homes more than 70 years ago.

The ASX-listed company is one of Australia’s largest home builders.

Victoria’s second wave coronavirus outbreak which saw daily cases soar above 700 a few weeks ago now appears to be on an overall downward trend, with 148 new cases on Tuesday, slightly up on the 116 new cases on Monday.

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Seven GOP lawmakers make a misguided trip to Russia

On Tuesday afternoon, the bipartisan leadership of the Senate Intelligence Committee issued some important findings, concluding that the U.S. intelligence community was correct in its assessment: Russia attacked the U.S. elections in 2016 and did so in the hopes of putting Donald Trump in the White House.

It was right around this time that seven Republican members of Congress -- six senators and one House member -- were in Moscow. Making matters much worse, however, is what the GOP lawmakers had to say while they were there. The Washington Post  reported :

Republican members of Congress sounded a newly conciliatory tone in meetings with Russian lawmakers and officials here on Tuesday in a rare visit to Moscow and a preview of the looming summit between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) told Russia's foreign minister that while Russia and the United States were competitors, "we don't necessarily need to be adversaries." ... "I'm not here today to accuse Russia of this or that or so forth," Shelby told Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin.

In addition to Shelby, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee and has limited foreign policy responsibilities, the official congressional delegation featured Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), and Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas).

On the surface, official foreign visits like these -- known as "codels" (for "congressional delegations") -- are as routine as they beneficial. I've seen some suggestions that members shouldn't be abroad during the 4th of July, but that doesn't matter much to me. Lawmakers are out this week for the holiday, so it stands to reason that they'll schedule international travel at a time when they won't miss votes on Capitol Hill.

What's far more alarming are the specific details of this particular trip.

At issue is seven Republicans traveling to an adversary's capital less than two years after it launched an attack on our sovereignty. Did the Americans make the trip to take a firm stand against our attackers? Hardly. They had no interest in confronting Russian officials over their election interference, preferring instead to let bygones be bygones.

There was no reason for the delegation to be partisan, but it was. There was no reason for these Republicans to give the Kremlin a pass on its misdeeds, but they did. There was no reason for the GOP lawmakers to downplay the significance of election meddling and the fate of Crimea in their discussions, but based on multiple accounts, they did that, too*. [ corrected: see below ]

Duma member Vyacheslav Nikonov said on Tuesday that he's met with many American lawmakers before, but this week's meeting " was one of the easiest ones in my life ."

If the Republicans who were in Moscow consider this a compliment, they're badly missing the point.

As the 2018 midterm elections approach, there are widespread concerns among U.S. officials about Putin's government launching another intelligence operation against our political system. The more Russia thinks it can get away with these attacks, the more emboldened it will be to launch them.

And yet, there was Alabama's Richard Shelby, traveling to Moscow and signaling weakness, reluctant to make accusations about "this or that or so forth."

In the recent past, Republicans saw Russia as an adversary, convinced of the need to show strength. That was before it became Donald Trump's party.

* Correction : I'd originally noted in this post that election meddling and Crimea were excluded from the delegation's talks with Russians, which was incorrect. I meant to say the importance of the issues was downplayed, and the above text has been corrected accordingly.

Luxury yachts and other myths: How Republican lawmakers echo Russian propaganda

Two senior Republican lawmakers, the chairs of the House Intelligence and Foreign Affairs committees, say their colleagues are echoing Russian state propaganda against Ukraine.

Researchers who study disinformation say Reps. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, and Michael McCaul, R-Texas, are merely acknowledging what has been clear for some time: Russian propaganda aimed at undermining U.S. and European support for Ukraine has steadily seeped into America’s political conversation over the past decade, taking on a life of its own.

McCaul, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Puck News he thinks “Russian propaganda has made its way into the United States, unfortunately, and it’s infected a good chunk of my party’s base.”

Turner, chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told CNN that anti-Ukraine messages from Russia are “being uttered on the House floor.”

For the past decade, since Russia’s first military incursion into Ukraine in 2014, Moscow has spread propaganda and disinformation in a bid to undercut U.S. and European military support for Ukraine, according to U.S. and Western officials.

Some of the arguments, distortions and falsehoods spread by Russia have taken root, mostly among right-wing pro-Trump outlets and Republican politicians, researchers say, including that Ukraine’s government is too corrupt to benefit from Western aid and that the Biden family has alleged corrupt ties to Ukraine.

Russia, in keeping with traditional propaganda techniques, seeks to make its case and tarnish Ukraine through a mixture of outright falsehoods, half-truths, inferences or simply amplifying and promoting arguments already being made by American or European commentators and politicians, researchers say.

The propaganda is sometimes spread covertly, through fake online accounts, or openly by Russian officials and state media. As a result, the origin of some allegations or criticisms is often opaque, especially when a certain accusation or perception has gained wide acceptance, leaving no clear fingerprints.

Early in the war, a false story boosted by Russian propaganda — that the U.S. had helped Ukraine build biological weapons labs — gained traction on right-wing social media and was touted by then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

Russia also is conducting a parallel propaganda campaign in Europe. Belgium’s prime minister said Thursday that his government is investigating alleged Russian bribes to members of the European Parliament as part of Moscow’s campaign to undermine support for Ukraine. Czech law enforcement officials last month alleged that a former pro-Russian member of Ukraine’s parliament, Viktor Medvedchuk, was behind a Prague-based Russian propaganda network designed to promote opposition to aiding Ukraine.

Here are some examples of Republican lawmakers using arguments often promoted by Russian propaganda:

Buying yachts

When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with members of Congress behind closed doors in December to appeal for more U.S. help for his country’s troops, some lawmakers raised questions about Ukraine allegedly buying yachts with American aid money.

Zelenskyy made clear that was not the case, according to Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a strong supporter of arming Ukraine. “I think the notion of corruption came up because some have said we can’t do it, because people will buy yachts with the money,” Tillis told CNN. “[Zelenskyy] disabused people of those notions.”

Where did the yacht rumor come from?

Pro-Russian actors and websites promoted a narrative alleging Zelenskyy bought two superyachts with U.S. aid dollars. One Russia-based propaganda site, DC Weekly , published a story last November that included photos of two luxury yachts, called Lucky Me and My Legacy , which it alleged were bought for $75 million.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a vocal opponent of military aid to Ukraine, in November retweeted a post about the alleged yacht purchase from the Strategic Culture Foundation, a Russian-based propaganda outlet directed by Russia’s intelligence services, according to the Treasury Department. The U.S. has imposed sanctions on the organization, accusing it of spreading disinformation and interfering in U.S. elections.

Another outspoken critic of aid to Ukraine, Republican Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, also made a similar claim.

In a December interview with former President Donald Trump’s White House adviser Steve Bannon, Vance claimed that members of Congress wanted to cut Social Security benefits to provide more aid to Ukraine, and that money would allegedly be used for Zelenskyy’s ministers to “buy a bigger yacht.”

“There are people who would cut Social Security, throw our grandparents into poverty. Why? So that one of Zelenskyy’s ministers can buy a bigger yacht?” Vance said. “Kiss my ass, Steve. It’s not happening.”

The tale of Zelenskyy’s luxury yacht, however, turned out to be totally false . The yachts cited in the DC Weekly article remain up for sale , the owners told The Associated Press.

Two academics at Clemson University, disinformation researchers Darren Linvill and Patrick Warren, found that DC Weekly ran numerous stories copied from other sites that were rewritten by artificial intelligence engines. The articles had bylines with fake names along with headshots copied from other online sites. DC Weekly appeared to be a Russian effort to launder false information through a seemingly legitimate news site as part of an attempt to undermine U.S. support for Ukraine, according to the researchers .

Asked by reporters about Vance’s comments, Tillis said: “I think it’s bullshit. ...If you’re talking about giving money to Ukrainian ministers — total and unmitigated bullshit.”

Greene’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Vance’s spokesperson said the senator was making a rhetorical point about how he opposed sending U.S. assistance to what he sees as a corrupt country, but was not asserting the yacht stories online were accurate.

Vance’s office referred NBC News to an earlier response to the BBC on the same topic:

“For years, everyone in the West recognized that Ukraine was one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Somehow everyone forgot that just as we started sending them billions of dollars in foreign aid.”

Enabling ‘corruption’

Russian state media for years has painted Ukraine as deeply corrupt, and has argued that the U.S. and its allies are wasting money and military hardware by assisting such an allegedly corrupt government.

“This is absolutely a line that they have pushed, and then once it appears in the Western ecosystem, other [Russian] media picks it up and it gets recycled back,” said Bret Schafer, a senior fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy.

This line of argument has gained traction partly because Ukraine does face a genuine corruption problem.

Russia’s effort to focus attention on corruption in Ukraine reflects a long-established propaganda method of using facts or partial truths to anchor a broader assertion or accusation, sometimes making a leap in logic, Schafer and other researchers said. Russia’s message amounts to: Ukraine is corrupt, therefore U.S. and Western aid will be stolen and wasted.

Schafer said it was ironic for Russia, a country mired in corruption and kleptocracy, to be leveling accusations about corruption.

Republican Rep. Mary Miller has said she strongly opposes more assistance for Ukraine because it amounts to sending cash to “corrupt oligarchs.”

“With Zelensky coming to DC this week to ask for more money, I will continue to vote AGAINST sending your tax $$ to corrupt oligarchs in Ukraine for a proxy war that could have ended in ‘22,” Miller wrote in a post on X in December.

The Illinois lawmaker also echoed another assertion that often appears in Russian media, that the Biden administration allegedly undermined efforts by Russia to avoid war with Ukraine.

 “A peace deal was on the table that [Ukraine] and [Russia] were both ready to sign, but Biden said NO,” she wrote.

There was in fact no proposed peace agreement that Russia and Ukraine were prepared to sign before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to U.S. and European officials. As Russian troops massed on the border of Ukraine, Western governments urged Russia not to invade and warned there would be economic and diplomatic consequences.

Reuters has reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected a possible deal to avert a war that had been discussed with Kyiv by Russia’s envoy to Ukraine. The Kremlin said the report was inaccurate and has said Russia tried for years to arrive at an understanding with Ukraine.

As for corruption in Ukraine, Zelenskyy has vowed to tackle the problem, sacking senior officials in some recent cases. But some civil society groups have criticized his approach and Ukrainians say corruption is the country’s second-most serious problem, after the Russian invasion, according to a poll conducted last year.

In an annual survey, Transparency International said Ukraine made progress toward addressing the issue and now ranks 104th out of 180 countries on its Corruption Perceptions Index , climbing 12 places up from its previous ranking.

Ukraine is not alone among countries that receive U.S. and other foreign aid but struggle with corruption. Supporters of assisting Ukraine argue it would undermine America’s influence in the world and its humanitarian efforts if Washington withheld foreign aid from every country where there were reports of corruption.

Miller’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

The Biden family and Ukraine

Republicans have repeatedly alleged that President Joe Biden and his son Hunter have corrupt ties to Ukraine, and that they sought $5 million in bribes from the Ukrainian energy company Burisma to protect the firm from an investigation by Ukraine’s prosecutor general.

There is no credible evidence for the allegations. A key source for the accusations against the Bidens is a former FBI informant, Alexander Smirnov, who was arrested in February on federal charges of fabricating the bribery claims. Smirnov says he was fed information by Russian intelligence.

Republicans had heavily promoted Smirnov’s allegations against the Bidens, seeing them as crucial to a planned impeachment effort against the president that has since fizzled .

“In my estimation, that is probably the clearest example of Russian propaganda working its way into the American political system,” said Emerson Brooking, a resident senior fellow at the Digital Forensic Research Lab of the Atlantic Council.

GOP Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona cited the false bribery allegations in expressing his opposition to providing assistance to Ukraine.

“In exchange for … bribe money from Ukraine, Joe Biden has dished out over $100 billion in taxpayer money to fund the war in Ukraine. I will not assist this corruption by sending more money to the authoritarian Ukrainian regime,” Gosar said in a statement in October.

Gosar’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Dan De Luce is a reporter for the NBC News Investigative Unit. 

Syedah Asghar is a Capitol Hill researcher for NBC News and is based in Washington, D.C.