Bidens arrive at beach villa on St. Croix after prior free stays drew ethics outcry

President Biden and his family arrived Thursday in St. Croix for what may be the final unpaid vacation of his presidency at the home of wealthy businesspeople — after consistent freebies as commander-in-chief drew ethics questions and an outcry over his failure to report the gifts.

Biden, 82, first lady Jill Biden and fist daughter Ashley Biden landed aboard Air Force One on the afternoon following Christmas and motorcaded straight to the beachfront villa of Bill and Connie Neville.

The president hosted the couple at his first state dinner in 2022 and typically grants them an audience on the tarmac while leaving the island after the new year.

The White House did not confirm that the Bidens were again residing at the Nevilles’ deluxe property, which features an in-ground pool, direct beach access and sweeping views of an offshore island, but the motorcade separated near the north shore home.

The property typically lists as a VRBO rental available for roughly $900 per night.

Biden stayed at the same house at the end of 2022 and 2023 for post-Christmas trips to celebrate New Year’s Eve — and also stayed there during his vice presidency, a fact that was used on promotional material.

Unlike President-elect Donald Trump, who regularly stayed at his own properties during his first term, drawing different ethics issues, Biden as president has sought out unpaid stays with prominent supporters, in many cases generating concern about the homeowners securing access and influence.

The Nevilles operate the US Viking software company, which makes an online content platform called ENPS marketed by The Associated Press and used by news outlets.

The couple scored coveted tickets to Biden’s first state dinner, featuring French President Emmanuel Macron and a select group of the two countries’ business elite, 26 days before the Bidens’ first presidential trip to the Nevilles’ home.

Although the precise sequence of events ahead of the initial trip to the beach house are unclear, the Bidens months later directly asked another homeowner, Maria Allwin, the widow of a prominent hedge fund operator, if they could use without payment her vacation mansion in Kiawah Island, S.C.

Biden additionally has enjoyed four Thanksgiving-week stays at billionaire private equity titan David Rubenstein’s Nantucket compound — and in a small token of gratitude spoke this September at a lunch hosted by Rubenstein in Washington.

Those four stays are presumed to have been unpaid, though neither party has confirmed it.

This August, Biden’s family spent five days for free at the sprawling California ranch of medical technology billionaire Joe Kiani, whose substantial government contracts during the Biden administration and appointment by Biden to an advisory board drew Republican outcry.

Last August, the Biden family spent nine days at billionaire climate investor Tom Steyer’s waterfront Lake Tahoe retreat in Nevada.

The White House initially claimed the Bidens would pay for the stay, prompting a short-lived local investigation of Steyer’s lack of a rental permit, which was called off without explanation.

Critics of the stays say they reek of corruption and that Biden’s consistent failure to report the gifts on annual ethics forms could be criminal, though Biden aides have taken the view that they don’t need to be listed due to the lack of clarity in federal law.

Mark Paoletta, the incoming top lawyer for the White House budget office, who served in the same role during President-elect Donald Trump’s first term, slammed Biden’s reporting omissions in May.

“His habit of taking over donors’ homes for vacations and not paying nor disclosing is consistent with his family’s long history of grift and corruption,” Paoletta told The Post after the release of Biden’s annual disclosure forms again showed the omissions.

Republicans have accused the media of a double standard in aggressively reporting on conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas not disclosing trips with billionaire developer Harlan Crow, who had no known business before the court.

Intentionally leaving gifts off the forms could amount to Biden violating federal law by making false statements — a crime punishable by up to five years in prison under 18 U.S. Code § 1001, former George W. Bush White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter previously told The Post.

“It really hurts the Democrats because they have always been claiming to be the party of the people, and yet, time and time again, you find the president in the United States staying in the house of a billionaire,” said Painter, now a Democrat, after Biden stayed again at Rubenstein’s compound.

“The problem is the not disclosing. And it makes us very hard for those of us who are very critical of the Supreme Court justices who are not disclosing this kind of stuff.”