GOP investigates Biden family-linked accounts in ‘foreign influence’ inquiry.
Republican Investigators Detail Biden Family’s Foreign Business Dealings
Republican congressional investigators have now detailed in three memos the various Biden-linked accounts they say hauled in over $20 million combined from overseas as the GOP inches toward subpoenaing the family.
The House Oversight Committee on Wednesday released its third memo on the Biden family’s foreign business dealings, which, like the May and March memos, is based on financial records the panel and its chairman, Rep. James Comer (R-KY), obtained through bank subpoenas as part of his sprawling Hunter Biden inquiry. Totaling 59 pages, the three documents provide a thorough look at the Biden family’s unique and powerful relationships overseas, which some House Republicans allege are grounds for impeachment proceedings.
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“The Bidens benefited from nearly two dozen shady companies, most set up during Joe Biden’s vice presidency, to receive millions of dollars from corrupt oligarchs and [Chinese Communist Party]-linked associates and sold nothing but Joe Biden, ‘the brand,'” Comer told the Washington Examiner. “The House Oversight Committee will continue to follow the money and interview witnesses to determine whether foreign actors targeted the Bidens, President Biden is compromised and corrupt, and our national security is threatened.”
On Friday, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the special counsel appointment of U.S. Attorney David Weiss for the Justice Department’s Hunter Biden investigation. Weiss is the federal prosecutor in Delaware who has overseen an inquiry into the business dealings of Joe Biden’s son, who in June agreed to plea guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and to attend a diversion program instead of a guilty plea to a gun charge.
However, the agreement fell apart in late July, and a trial now seems increasingly likely.
‘Influence Peddling’
House Republicans intend to paint the picture that Hunter Biden and his then-associates profited off the Biden name, particularly that of his father, and engaged in “influence peddling” on a global scale. The Oversight Committee has not yet identified any direct payments to Joe Biden. However, the panel argued in the Wednesday memo that Democrats have a “weak defense” in offering that doing so is necessary to show wrongdoing, adding that “the law recognizes payments to family members to corruptly influence others can constitute a bribe.”
GOP congressional investigators have their sights set on more than 20 companies tied to Biden family members and associates, including James Biden, Hallie Biden, Hunter Biden, Devon Archer, James “Jimmy” Bulger, and Rob Walker. In May, the Oversight Committee released a chart outlining the existence of accounts formed between 1998 to 2017, which the panel says were boosted with foreign source dollars, including in Romania and China.
Many of the transactions identified by investigators involved Owasco P.C., which Hunter Biden owned and formed in 2006, according to corporate records. Owasco P.C. notably received $500,000 combined from the Biden family associate Rob Walker’s LLC called Robinson Walker, which steered around $1 million to Biden family members between 2015 and 2017, according to the Oversight Committee.
That revelation has proved concerning for Republicans, in part, since Robinson Walker in March 2017 took $3 million from State Energy HK Limited, a Chinese energy firm that Comer said earlier this year “appears to be Ye’s vehicle, at least in part, to launder money and purchase lucrative gifts.” The congressman was referring to Chinese businessman Ye Jianming, who has since disappeared into China amid legal issues and headed CEFC, a defunct-Chinese energy conglomerate whose venture Hudson West III paid millions of dollars to Owasco.
Between 2015 and 2017, Robinson Walker was also on the receiving end of over $3 million from Gabriel Popoviciu, a Romanian real estate tycoon who was facing corruption and bribery criminal charges, according to the Oversight Committee. Popoviciu reportedly brought in Hunter Biden in 2016 to legally advise him.
These transactions, and others, are examples that Republicans have pointed to in order to stake the claim that the Biden family has capitalized on its status to reap a windfall from overseas entities involved in shady activities.
‘Sold Access’
Wednesday’s memo largely pertains to three limited liability corporation firms that Hunter Biden co-founded: Rosemont Seneca Partners, Rosemont Seneca Thornton, and Rosemont Seneca Bohai. Russian billionaire Yelena Baturina notably transferred $3.5 million in February 2014 to RST, with $1 million of that sum being sent to Archer, and the rest of the cash going to seed the launch of RSB, according to the Oversight Committee.
Archer confirmed the payment in testimony before the Oversight Committee last month, as well as remarked that the $3.5 million was apparently part of a $120 million Baturina investment into Rosemont Realty, which counts RST as an offshoot. Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) previously described the $3.5 million transfer in a 2020 report.
In spring 2014, Hunter Biden, Archer, Baturina, and others met at Cafe Milano in Washington, D.C., according to the Oversight Committee and testimony from Archer, who said there was also a 2015 meeting.
The 2014 meeting could prove particularly notable, given Archer’s testimony that former Kazakhstan Prime Minister Karim Massimov, who was sentenced this year to 18 years in prison over treason and an attempted coup, was in attendance. Archer also said Kazakh oligarch Kenes Rakishev and “possibly” former Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, the late husband of Baturina, were there in 2014.
On April 22, 2014, Rakishev wired $142,300 to Rosemont Seneca Bohai through a Singaporean entity called Novatus Holdings and also that same amount to a New Jersey car dealership for Hunter Biden to obtain a sports car, according to the Wednesday memo and Archer’s testimony.
“The Biden family sold access to ‘the brand’ Joe Biden and in the process sold out their country,” Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who sits on the Oversight Committee, told the Washington Examiner. “They have lied to cover up the truth, but justice is coming.”
Not long after Baturina’s 2014 payment, Hunter Biden and Archer joined forces on the board of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings, led by Mykola Zlochevsky, a Ukrainian oligarch. Zlochevsky was allegedly “coerced” by Joe and Hunter Biden to transfer them $10 million combined for their help in working to get a prosecutor investigating Burisma fired, according to an unclassified FBI whistleblower document released by Grassley in July.
Archer testified to the Oversight Committee that Hunter Biden was added to Burisma’s board because of Joe Biden’s influential “brand.” Hunter Biden and Archer were paid over $1 million per year from Burisma, which steered roughly $83,000 each month to Rosemont Seneca Bohai until late 2015.
Due to Archer’s legal troubles, Burisma payments were then directed to Hunter Biden’s Owasco P.C.
Special Counsel Alert
The appointment of Weiss as special counsel comes on the heels of Republicans alleging that the prosecutor’s powers seem limited. Two veteran criminal IRS investigators named Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, who worked on the Justice Department’s case related to Hunter Biden, alleged in May that Weiss blocked charges from being brought against Hunter Biden in California and Washington, D.C., and previously was rejected from special counsel status after a request.
Garland said on Friday that Weiss may “take any investigative steps he wanted and make the decision whether to prosecute in any district.” Meanwhile, Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) emerged on Friday as the second lawmaker to file impeachment articles against Joe Biden, with the Florida Republican citing the president’s ties to Hunter Biden’s business dealings. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) put forth articles in May against Biden.
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“The evidence continues to mount by the day — the Biden crime family has personally profited off Joe’s government positions through bribery, threats, and fraud,” the congressman said. “Joe Biden must not be allowed to continue to sit in the White House, selling out our country.”
An attorney for Hunter Biden did not return a request for comment.
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