by Jake Dima
Hunter Biden, the son of President-elect Joe Biden, is the subject of a probe into possible connections to a prominent Chinese energy firm as well as an investigation into his tax affairs.
The President-elect’s son announced on Dec. 9 that federal authorities in his home state of Delaware were conducting an inquiry into his finances. Hunter Biden’s business dealings with China remains the primary focus of the investigation, which began in 2018, CNN’s Shimon Prokupecz reported.
The probe was put on hold during Joe Biden’s campaign for executive office, Prokupecz wrote.
“I learned yesterday for the first time that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware advised my legal counsel, also yesterday, that they are investigating my tax affairs,” Hunter Biden said in the statement.
“I take this matter very seriously but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisors.”
Days later, federal investigators announced Hunter Biden was the subject of scrutiny related to his business dealings with one of China’s largest energy companies, CEFC. The corporation, which holds possible ties to the country’s communist regime, wired approximately $6 million dollars to accounts and firms controlled by the President-elect’s son between 2017 and 2018.
Some of the wire transfers were flagged for criminal activity in a report released by Senate Republicans, the DCNF found. Another transfer from a Russian billionaire in 2014, which amounted to $3.5 million, was also flagged in the GOP findings.
Hunter Biden was later subpoenaed by federal authorities to release his foreign business records with more than two dozen companies, according to the Associated Press. Ukranian energy company Burisma, where the President-elect’s son held a senior role, and multiple Chinese firms were named in the report, AP reported.
Hunter Biden gained national attention in October when he reportedly dropped his computer hard drive at a Delaware repair shop and never picked it up, according to the New York Post. The hard drive contained lewd images of the President-elect’s son and a more clear picture of his business dealings with the Ukrainian firm, where he served in a high-level role for a salary of $50,000 per month, the Post reported.
The founder of the cybersecurity firm Errata Security Robert Graham told the Daily Caller News Foundation that one email in the drive, which was obtained by the DCNF for review, was “unquestionably authentic.” The email possibly linked both Joe and Hunter Biden to the Ukrainian business.
In the 2015 message, Vadym Pozharsky, an advisor to Burisma’s board of directors, thanked Hunter Biden for “inviting me to DC and giving an opportunity to meet your father and spent [sic] some time together.”
The email purportedly contradicts a claim from Joe Biden that he “had never spoken” to his “son about his overseas business dealings,” the Post reported. Moreover, Hunter Biden’s ex-business partner Tony Bobulinski in late October suggested that the President-elect was well aware of his son’s foreign relationships.
Bobulinski said in a press conference that he, alongside both Joe and Hunter Biden, discussed financial relationships in 2017 when the trio discussed a joint venture deal between Oneida Holdings and CEFC.
“I have heard Joe Biden say he’s never discussed business with Hunter,” said Bobulinski. “That is false.”
“I was introduced to Joe Biden by Jim Biden and Hunter Biden,” Bobulinski said. “In my approximately hour-long meeting with Joe that night we discussed Biden’s history, the Biden family business plans with the Chinese, with which he was plainly familiar, at least at a high level.”
Further analysis of the hard-drive by the DCNF showed that Joe Biden offered his son financial assistance at least four times between November of 2018 and March of 2019.
“Dad can you please cash app me $2,000,” Hunter Biden texted Joe Biden on March 15, 2019. “I’m again overdrawn in my account for bills that can’t be left unpaid.”
“I’ll have it all paid back next week I hope,” Hunter Biden texted his father after Joe Biden was asked if the transfer went through.
Multiple emails and text messages appeared to paint a picture of financial distress for Hunter Biden. The President-elect’s son in one message exchange asks a business partner for a $50,000 wire transfer while he’s stuck at a gas pump with no money in his account.
“Buddy do you have cash app to send me … $100 until wire goes,” Hunter Biden emailed his business partner Jeff Cooper. “I have no I have no money for gas and im literally stuck at a rest stop on 95 on my way from Boston to DC.”
Political figures have raised concerns about the investigation carrying over past Joe Biden’s inauguration.
“That should not be investigated by someone appointed by the president any more than if one of his cabinet members is accused of something or his national security adviser,” former ethics counsel to President George W. Bush Richard Painter told the New York Times.
“This is the opportunity for the incoming president and attorney general, whoever he chooses, to say this is exactly why we need an office of special counsel,” he continued.
– – –
Jake Dima is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Hunter Biden” by ABC News. Photo “Joe Biden” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
