New evidence shows Hunter Biden leveraged father's policy position for business with wealthy Greeks
Email from 2011 recently turned over to Congress shows some of earliest efforts that Hunter Biden business plan was based on his father’s name, influence.
When Hunter Biden was plotting with one of his business partners early in his career to score business with wealthy Greek businessmen, he immediately identified as key leverage a policy position his father took as vice president.
“I'd like you there, but this is a preliminary meeting to introductions into Greek money. If you'd rather sleep in no problem," Hunter Biden wrote his associate Devon Archer on Jan. 26, 2011. "I think he will connect us to the top 10 wealthiest Greeks in the world - who by the way as a community think my Dad is a candidate for sainthood for his position on Cyprus."
The email, recently turned over to Congress by Archer, pre-dates Hunter Biden's later and now infamous pursuits of money in China, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Romania and provides investigators some of the earliest evidence showing him openly expressing how his relationship to Joe Biden was a keystone for business success.
The email also hints at Hunter Biden's future ambitions to score business in one pf the fastest growing economies in the world at that time: China. "Gabriel can get us more argentine milk than a billion chinese can drink," the future first son quipped.
Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, did not respond to a request for comment from Just the News.
Investigating whether or not President Joe Biden was a participant in an influence peddling scheme has been at the center of a House Republican impeachment inquiry. That investigation has resulted in testimony from ex-Hunter Biden partners, troves of evidence and documents, and growing public sentiment that Joe Biden acted either illegally or unethically.
Despite this, Biden and his allies have continued to insist that he had no involvement in his son’s foreign business dealings that saw millions funneled into the first son’s bank accounts. One of Biden's most stubborn defenders, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D- Md., said last October that "As everyone knows, Committee Republicans have uncovered no evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden and, last month, even their hand-picked witnesses at their first impeachment hearing testified that they saw no evidence of a crime, much less an impeachable one. Nothing has changed."
Despite Raskin's protestations, the mountain of evidence has only grown higher. Just the News previously reported that President Biden met with Russian oligarch Yelena Baturina at a posh Georgetown restaurant in a dinner hosted by Hunter. That pattern would continue to emerge as the future first son moved on to deals with Ukrainian oligarchs and once high-powered but now fugitive Chinese businessmen, the evidence shows.
When Hunter Biden, for instance, was trying to ink a new, lucrative deal with the controversial Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings, he and Archer discussed ways to leverage his father’s upcoming visit to the country to their advantage, Just the News previously reported.
In an email to Archer on April 13, 2014, the younger Biden suggested that he and his partner should present his father’s visit to Ukraine as part of their consulting work for the company and to "ask for a long term agreement and across the board participation" in Burisma's business. President Biden’s trip to the country was announced just the day before.
"The announcement of my guys upcoming travels should be characterized as part of our advice and thinking – but what he will say and do is out of our hands," the email stated. "In other words, it could be a really good thing or it could end up creating too great an expectation. We need to temper expectations regarding that visit.”
At the time, Hunter Biden was attempting to cement a dual-pronged deal with Burisma, to serve on its board and to secure a retainer for the law firm that employed him, Boies Schiller Flexner LLP (BSF), to represent the gas company.
The deal with Burisma "should include a retainer in the range of 25k p/m w/ additional fees where appropriate for more in depth work to go to BSF for our protection," Hunter Biden wrote. "Complete separate from our respective deals re board participation.”
Burisma would retain BSF for a fee and would pay millions in board membership fees directly to both Hunter Biden and Archer, Just the News reported.
By 2017, Hunter Biden was seeking an even larger payday directly from his Chinese business partners at CEFC China Energy which was founded and led by Ye Jianming. Emails show, the Bidens were hoping to secure a $5 million interest-free, forgivable loan in order to kickstart the joint venture. The emails, which were obtained by the FBI, show the money was intended for the benefit of the Biden family as a whole, referenced as the “BD family” in the emails.
Ye was detained and put under investigation in March 2018 on suspicion of economic crimes in China, and has not been seen since then, according to CNN.
"The delay of wire is caused by the details on the JV building, as follows: 1) the positioning and strategy of the JV are not made fully clear to CEFC 2) 5 million is lent to BD family in the 10 million charter capital. How will this 5 million be used (or the 10 million as a whole)? This 5 million loan to BD family is interest-free," the July 26, 2017 email stated.
"But if the 5M is used up, should CEFC keep lending more to the family?" the email inquired. "If CEFC lends more, they need to know the interest rate for the subsequent loan(s).”
Less than a week later, Hunter Biden appeared to be frustrated the money was not coming in quickly enough. According to a text message turned over to Congress by the IRS whistleblowers, the future first son threatened one of his Chinese partners by expressly invoking his father’s name.
“I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled,” Biden wrote. “I am very concerned the Chairman has either changed his mind and broken our deal without telling me or that he is unaware of the promises and assurances that have been made have not been kept [sic].”
“Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand. And now means tonight,” he continued. “And Z if I get a call or a text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang or the Chairman I will make certain between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction,” he threatened.
The following month, after Hunter Biden had invoked his father, a $5 million payment—the loan—was sent to a Biden-connected firm, Just the News previously reported.
In May of that same year, Hunter Biden made clear in a text message with his partner Tony Bobulinski that the Chinese businessmen where specifically coming to be partners with him and his family.
“AND Tony that is what Zhang implied - they are both coming to by MY partner to be partners with the Bidens. He has implied that the #1 has made that clear and available to him,” Hunter Biden reportedly said in a WhatsApp message to Bobulinski. The message was part of a batch Bobulinski turned over to the FBI in 2020.
Bobulinski testified to the House impeachment inquiry in February that Joe Biden was the “brand” that his family sold and said that the Biden patriarch was involved in his family’s business affairs.
“I want to be crystal‑clear: From my direct personal experience and what I've subsequently come to learn, it is clear to me that Joe Biden was the brand being sold by the Biden family,” Bobulinski told congressional investigators, drawing on his experience forming two companies with the Bidens to partner with CEFC.
The Facts Inside Our Reporter's Notebook
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- growing public sentiment
- Republicans have uncovered no evidence of wrongdoing
- discussed ways to leverage his fatherâs upcoming visit to the country
- seeking an even larger payday directly from his Chinese business partners
- according to CNN
- reportedly said in a WhatsApp message
- testified to the House impeachment inquiry in February