Foreign oligarchs moved millions to Biden-tied firms before meeting Joe Biden, investigators say

Firms tied to the Biden family collected more than $20 million from foreign sources, including big payments from controversial oligarchs who afterwards had private dinners with Joe Biden as vice president, congressional investigators disclosed Wednesday.

In its third memo analyzing bank records, the GOP-led House Oversight and Accountability Committee reported it had found a clear pattern of the Biden family and its partners doing business with Russian, Ukrainian, Kazakh, Chinese and Romanian figures who had legal and other troubles and then collecting money around the times of gaining access to Joe Biden.

The pattern, the congressional investigators noted, corroborates recent testimony from former Hunter Biden business partner Devon Archer that the presidential son solicited business from foreigners who were seeking influence, access or protection from a family "brand" that included Joe Biden.

"The Biden family’s and associates' dealings with foreign nationals from Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine show a pattern of Hunter Biden and Devon Archer courting wealthy oligarchs with political and financial influence but tainted backgrounds," the new member to lawmakers on the committee stated.

"Thus far, the Committee has identified over $20 million from foreign sources that benefitted the Biden family and their business associates," it added. According to the report, payments to the Biden family and its associates included:

• $3.5 million from Russian oligarch Elena Baturina and her now-deceased husband, Yury Luzhkov, former mayor of Moscow, who was identified as presiding over a "pyramid of corruption" by the U.S. ambassador to Russia.
• $142,300 connected to Kenes Rakishev and his associate, former Prime Minister Karim Massimov and two Kazakh oligarchs. Massimov was recently convicted in Kazakhstan for serious crimes, including treason.
• $6.5 million tied to Burisma Holdings in Ukraine, its owner Mykola Zlochevsky and top executive Vadym Pozharsky at a time when the energy company was suspected by the State Department of corruption and bribery.
• $3 million from oligarch Gabriel Popoviciu, who was convicted of bribery and the "complicity in abuse of power" in Romania.
• $8 million tied to Chinese entities including CEFC China Energy and its chairman Ye Jianming who was "detained in 2018 by Chinese authorities for suspected economic crimes and bribery." A second CEFC official named Patrick Ho was charged and convicted of bribery in the United States.

You can read the full memo here:

Committee Chairman James Comer said the latest bank records affirmed an influence-peddling operation inside the web of Biden family businesses while Joe Biden served as President Barack Obama's No. 2.

"During Joe Biden’s vice presidency, Hunter Biden sold him as 'the brand' to reap millions from oligarchs in Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine," Comer said. "It appears no real services were provided other than access to the Biden network, including Joe Biden himself. And Hunter Biden seems to have delivered."

Comer cited his staff’s latest analysis of bank records and the timing of payments to Hunter Biden-connected firms like Rosemont Seneca offshoots from foreigners who then got personal access to Joe Biden at two dinners in April 2014 and 2015 at Washington D.C.’s swanky Café Milano.

For instance, the memo shows a pattern of payments to Biden-related entities followed by personal access to the then-Vice President:

• On April 22, 2014, Rakishev used a Singaporean entity, Novatus Holdings, to wire Rosemont Seneca Bohai $142,300. The next day, the exact same amount was wired out to a car dealership in New Jersey for a luxury sportscar for Hunter Biden. "Around the same timeframe as the payment for Hunter Biden's sportscar, Vice President Joe Biden attended dinner with Kenes Rakishev" at Café Milano.
• On Feb. 14, 2014, the Russian oligarch Baturina, Russia’s wealthiest woman, wired the Rosemont Seneca Thornton bank account $3.5 million. Two months later, she attended the dinner at Café Milano with Joe Biden.
• In 2014 and 2015, Hunter Biden and Devon Archer received approximately $3.32 million from Burisma in their Rosemont Seneca Bohai account. “On April 16, 2015, Vice President Joe Biden attended a dinner with Vadym Pozharsky” at Café Milano, the committee noted.

"Then-Vice President Joe Biden dined with oligarchs from around the world who had sent money to his son," Comer said. "It’s clear Joe Biden knew about his son’s business dealings and allowed himself to be 'the brand' sold to enrich the Biden family while he was Vice President of the United States."

The committee also said foreign oligarchs often made payments to firms bearing the Rosemont Seneca name, all tied to a firm called Rosemont Seneca Partners. Money that moved to connected firms like Rosemont Seneca Thornton and Rosemont Seneca Bohai ultimately benefited Hunter Biden, the investigators alleged.

"Rosemont Seneca Partners was central to the Bidens' later business ventures: many of the entities Hunter Biden formed after 2009 would be housed under or would transact with Rosemont Seneca Partners," the congressional investigators noted.

For example, they wrote, when the Russian oligarch Baturina deposited her $3.5 million into Rosemont Seneca Thornton, much of the money was subsequently transferred to Rosemont Seneca Bohai.

"Rosemont Seneca Bohai was an entity used by both Hunter Biden and Devon Archer. In his testimony to the Committee, Devon Archer confirmed he and Hunter Biden were 50-50 owners in Rosemont Seneca Bohai," they added.

"… As testified by an IRS whistleblower, the Rosemont Seneca Bohai account was used for personal expenses of Hunter Biden, as well as to engage in further investment with Devon Archer," they added.