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Friday, December 1, 2023

Hunter Biden’s Missing ‘Services’

 

One of the oldest games in Washington is setting the bar, and this week Rep. Jamie Raskin played it like a pro. Mr. Raskin, ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, gloated that Republicans are failing miserably to demonstrate a “vast unproven family conspiracy” in their investigation of Joe Biden and his kin.

This is called raising expectations, and Mr. Raskin is betting that GOP efforts to get to the bottom of the Biden family business will leave the impression of being mired in the fever swamps. But the questions at play are neither vast nor at this point entirely unproven. They are simple: Did Biden family members cash in solely on the basis of Joe Biden’s political name, and did Joe in any way benefit?

A red-flag document released this week from Oversight Chairman James Comer provides more evidence on the cashing-in point—and it comes from an impartial source. The document is a June 2018 email from an internal bank investigator—someone trained to look for money laundering—that flags suspicious activity within a Hunter Biden joint venture’s account. In his email to an executive at the bank, the investigator says he’s been monitoring Hunter given his designation as a PEP—an acronym for “politically exposed person,” a class of client that poses a risk of bribery or corruption. The investigator then explains “account activity” and “negative news” indicate Hunter to be “high risk.”

The investigator was specifically concerned with the description of a $5 million deposit in August 2017 from Northern International Capital Holdings, a company affiliated with Chinese-government-linked energy firm CEFC. The investigator notes the money was listed as a “business loan,” yet “there was no loan agreement document submitted.”

Instead, the email says, the money had to that date funded 16 wire transfers totaling more than $2.9 million, a portion of which went to an entity controlled by Hunter. “These payments were indicated as management fees and reimbursements,” the email says, noting that “we find it unusual that approximately 58% of the funds were transferred to the law firm in a few months and the frequency of payments appear erratic.” Especially because the joint venture that initially received the so-called loan “does not currently have any investment projects at this time.” The investigator queried why anyone was getting paid “millions in fees” when “it does not appear” there were “services rendered.”

Exactly. A federal investigation and Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers have forced some coverage of whether Hunter paid appropriate taxes on his overseas earnings. Yet Oversight Committee investigators are probing the actual transactions, asking what Hunter did exactly to earn the payouts. The bank investigator was concerned that the Chinese money flowing into Hunter’s account was unrelated to actual business and suggested the bank re-evaluate its “relationship with the customer.” The email cites media reporting that Hunter’s “extravagant spending” might have “put his family in a deep financial hole,” and that there are reports of “China targeting children of politicians and purchase of political influence through ‘sweetheart deals.’ ” This email was written years before Hunter’s laptop went public and he became the target of a congressional investigation.

But the laptop and investigations only added to the concerns outlined in the bank email. What exactly did Hunter provide Ukrainian energy company Burisma in return for a significant monthly payment? Devon Archer, Hunter’s former business partner, told GOP investigators that Hunter’s value-add was “the brand”—Joe Biden’s name—and that “Burisma would have gone out of business if it didn’t have the brand attached to it.” In an email to Mr. Archer in 2011, addressing some of his fledgling dealings with Chinese investors, Hunter admitted: “It has nothing to do with me and everything to do with my last name.”

Bank records obtained by the House Oversight Committee, meanwhile, show that at least $40,000 of that $5 million quickly ended up in a Joe Biden bank account—via his brother James, who recorded it as repayment of a loan. Democrats and media allies are pressing the point that it was a loan, obfuscating the larger picture, which is damning. The evidence all points to Joe being well aware of Hunter’s business forays—getting on the phone with Hunter during his son’s business meetings, entertaining prospective Hunter business clients, allowing his son to tag along on Air Force Two for business meetings. Hunter and James had also been in business together.

That put an obligation on Joe Biden—as a senator, vice president and a potential presidential candidate—to keep his finances completely separate. He might not have proved able to stop his son or brother from cashing in on the family name, and he might never have taken an “official act” on Hunter’s behalf. But he did aid Hunter in his brand selling, and money from that selling ended up in his account.

That information is highly relevant to voters, and why the GOP probe is a public service. Even if the Biden family business doesn’t prove to be some vast conspiracy, it is certainly a sordid affair.

Kimberley Strassel is a member of the editorial board for The Wall Street Journal. She writes editorials, as well as the weekly Potomac Watch political column, from her base in Alaska.

Ms. Strassel joined Dow Jones & Co. in 1994, working in the news department of The Wall Street Journal Europe in Brussels, and then in London. She moved to New York in 1999 and soon thereafter joined the Journal's editorial page, working as a features editor, and then as an editorial writer. She assumed her current position in 2005.

Ms. Strassel, a 2014 Bradley Prize recipient, is a regular contributor to Sunday political shows, including CBS's "Face the Nation," Fox News Sunday, and NBC's "Meet the Press." She is the author of "The Intimidation Game: How the Left Is Silencing Free Speech," which chronicles recent attacks on conservative nonprofits, businesses and donors.

An Oregon native, Ms. Strassel earned a bachelor's degree in Public Policy and International Affairs from Princeton University. She lives in Alaska with her three children.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/hunter-bidens-missing-services-2024-election-washington-politics-law-cdb7d3eb

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