By Steven Nelson
WASHINGTON — President Biden received $40,000 in “laundered” funds from Chinese government-linked CEFC China Energy, according to a memo released Wednesday by the House Oversight Committee.
The alleged 2017 transfer from first brother James Biden to the future president involves the same business deal in which Joe Biden was called the “big guy” and penciled in for a 10% cut — and would be the first proven instance of the commander-in-chief getting a piece of his family’s foreign income.
The $40,000 went through a “complicated financial transaction” just weeks after first son Hunter Biden threatened his father’s wrath in a July 30, 2017, text message to a CEFC employee, the Republican-led Oversight Committee said in the memo.
The money ended up in Joe Biden’s bank account on Sept. 3, 2017, via a check labeled “loan repayment” from his younger brother, who partnered with Hunter in the venture.
“Remember when Joe Biden told the American people that his son didn’t make money in China?” Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said in a video posted to X.
“Well, not only did he lie about his son Hunter making money in China, but it also turns out that $40,000 in laundered China money landed in Joe Biden’s bank account in the form of a personal check.”
CEFC China Energy paid Hunter and James Biden roughly $6.1 million in 2017 and 2018 shortly after their powerful relative left the vice presidency — with about $1 million paid beginning in March 2017 and the remainder within 10 days of Hunter’s threatening message invoking his dad.
A $5 million wire was sent on Aug. 8, 2017, to “Hudson West III, a joint venture established by Hunter Biden and CEFC associate Gongwen Dong,” a committee synopsis of the memo says.
“That same day, Hudson West III sent $400,000 to Owasco, P.C., an entity owned and controlled by Hunter Biden. On August 14, 2017, Hunter Biden wired $150,000 to Lion Hall Group, a company owned by President Biden’s brother James and sister-in-law Sara Biden,” it goes on.
“On August 28, 2017, Sara Biden withdrew $50,000 in cash from Lion Hall Group. Later the same day, she deposited it into her and James Biden’s personal checking account. On September 3, 2017, Sara Biden cut a check to Joe Biden for $40,000 for a ‘loan repayment.’”
The memo argues that the balances of the respective accounts make clear that the funds flowed from CEFC directly to Joe Biden.
House Democrats and the White House are likely to argue that the transfer was a genuine loan repayment and repeat assertions that Joe Biden did not benefit financially from his son and brother’s business dealings.
Earlier this month, the Oversight Committee revealed that James Biden paid Joe Biden $200,000 on March 1, 2018 — the same day that James received a $200,000 transfer from troubled rural hospital company Americore by pledging to use his political connections to secure a Middle Eastern investor.
The top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), alleged that James Biden was repaying a $200,000 loan that Joe Biden had made that January, but did not provide proof, and Comer said Republicans couldn’t find evidence that the elder brother had made a loan.
Joe Biden allegedly met with his son and brother’s CEFC associates in May 2017 and was referred to in a contemporary email as the “big guy” due a potential 10% cut. Joe Biden also was listed as a participant in an October 2017 call about the firm’s attempt to purchase US natural gas.
Comer’s allegation could push forward House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry, which is focused on alleged corruption involving the Biden family in countries including China and Ukraine.
Hunter Biden wrote in a January 2019 message retrieved from his former laptop that he had to give “half” of his income to Joe Biden, and the Oversight Committee in May identified nine Biden family members who allegedly received foreign funds.
During his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden said he “never” talked business with his family members, but evidence has emerged that he interacted while vice president with their associates from Kazakhstan, Mexico, Russia and Ukraine, as well as from another Chinese government-linked venture called BHR Partners.
Biden is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco later this month. His Republican detractors say he’s compromised in his ability to deal with China by his family’s financial connection to state-backed entities.
