Impeachment witness says no record of work, loan to James Biden before payment to brother

The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability has released a transcript of its impeachment inquiry interview with a representative of Americore, the now-bankrupt healthcare company that loaned presidential brother James Biden hundreds of thousands of dollars before it went under.

Carol Fox, the trustee who represented Americore during its bankruptcy proceedings, said she could neither determine what role James Biden played nor identify any paperwork backing up the loans made to him from the struggling company in 2018.

According to the transcript of her testimony reviewed by Just the News, Fox told the committee that Biden purportedly provided consulting services to the company through his firm, Lion Hall, but in her financial investigation she could not determine exactly what those services were, nor Biden’s role at Americore despite a business card listing him as a “Principal.”

“What was James Biden's role at Americore?” investigators asked.

“I don’t think we know,” she replied. “Well, we have what his business card says he does, but in as far as what he actually did while he was in the company, that preceded my involvement with the company.  And so I think we have a business card that says what his ... stated role was, but what he actually did, I don't know,” she added.

As trustee of the bankruptcy estate, Carol Fox sued James Biden in July 2022 because he failed to repay the $600,000 in loans and because she could not identify the services he allegedly provided. The court documents were previously disclosed by the House Oversight Committee during its investigation into James Biden’s payment to his brother.

“Is it fair to say that you weren’t able to identify any services that he provided to Americore?” investigators asked.

“Well, that’s why I sued him, so…” she answered. “I did not think that he provided services to the debtors,” she added later.

Indeed, Fox’s financial investigation found no documentary evidence for the “consulting & marketing” services for which Americore paid James Biden $10,000 in addition to the loans.

“There's the same amount of documentation for the consulting and marketing agreement as there is for the loans -- none,” Fox told the committee. Not only could Fox not identify the services that James Biden provided to Americore, but her investigation yielded no paperwork documenting the loans the company sent to him, despite bank records showing that transfers were made.

The financial investigation uncovered a $400,000 wire transfer to Biden’s bank account identified as a "loan" from the bank records, however, Fox told the committee that her investigation did not find any promissory notes or official documentation for the payment. She also could not identify documentation showing the collateral for the loan nor the justification for it.

“And were there any documents or promissory notes or anything documenting the loan itself?” investigators asked. “No. There was one thing that said 'loan,' and that's why this was called a loan, is because of the exhibits that were filed with this complaint [the lawsuit against James Biden]…” Fox answered.

“Do you know if there was any documentation showing what the loan was potentially collateralized by?” Fox was asked later. “I didn't find any documentation supporting that,” she answered.

“Did you find any documentation where James Biden submitted the reason why he was trying to obtain this loan from Americore?” investigators asked. “No,” Fox answered.

Fox told the committee that the second loan, for $200,000, also lacked any kind of official documentation or paperwork, according to the transcript.

The Oversight Committee first identified Americore as the source of a series of loans to James Biden, some of which, the committee argues, was used to send a payment to his brother Joe Biden. In total, the committee found $600,000 in loans from the healthcare company, which operated rural hospitals, to James Biden.

One of the loans – for $200,000 – was sent to James Biden’s personal bank account by the company. The same day, he sent a payment for an identical amount to his brother, Joe Biden, labeled as a loan repayment. The committee argues that the transfer from Americore funded the payment to Joe Biden even as the company was in dire financial straits.

According to Americore’s bankruptcy court documents, James Biden had made representations to the company that “his last name, ‘Biden,’ could 'open doors’ and that he could obtain a large investment from the Middle East based on his political connections,” Just the News previously reported.

Though Fox was not able to recall where these quotes came from, she confirmed to the committee that there are “supporting documents or information” she could provide that would show James Biden making these representations.

In September 2022, James Biden agreed to pay $350,000 to settle the lawsuit against him by Fox, Americore’s bankruptcy trustee. The lawsuit placed blame on Biden for receiving the vast sums in loans while the company was struggling financially.

Despite settling the suit, Biden continued to insist that he did nothing wrong and delivered the consulting services for which the company paid him. Fox also told the committee that Joe Biden’s name did not come up in the trustee investigation into Americore’s payments to his brother.

“Jim had a vision of revitalizing failing rural hospitals,” James Biden’s lawyer, David Randolph Smith, told The Wall Street Journal, answering allegations that James Biden did not provide the services he promised. “He provided extensive financial and consulting services to Americore.”

After the Oversight Committee released the evidence of the $200,000 check from James to Joe Biden following Americore’s wire to the former, Paul Fishman, attorney for James Biden for James Biden called the committee’s descriptions "misleading." The Oversight Committee's description of the $200,000 check is highly selective and misleading, Paul Fishman, attorney for James Biden, reportedly said.

"The Committee has the bank documents that show both the loan Jim received from his brother in January 2018 and the repayment by check six weeks later. At no time did Jim involve his brother in any of his business relationships,” he continued.

The Oversight Committee is set to release several more interview transcripts in the coming weeks as the committee prepares to interview Hunter Biden on February 28. One transcript will come from the interview of Hunter Biden’s former business partner, Rob Walker, who confirmed to the committee that Hunter Biden’s work for the Chinese energy company CEFC began while his father was still vice president.

Eric Schwerin, an associate who long helped to manage Hunter Biden’s finances and businesses, and Mervyn Yan, who helped facilitate payments from CEFC China to Biden family members, were recently interviewed by the committee.

James Biden is set to appear before the committee on February 21, one week before his nephew. He will likely be asked about his “loan” repayments to his brother Joe Biden and about his dealings with Americore.

James Biden was also closely involved with Hunter Biden’s efforts to court CEFC China Energy officials from 2015 to 2017. Previously the Oversight Committee identified another $40,000 loan repayment from James Biden to his brother, which the committee alleged was funded by transfers from CEFC.