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The Federal Bureau of Investigation is in possession of “significant evidence” of “potential criminal conduct” by President Joe Biden’s son “Hunter Biden” relating to his overseas business dealings with China and Ukraine, a whistleblower allegation says.
In a letter
last week Thursday Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa made the
revelations in a letter obtained by the Washington Examiner. Copies of the
letter were sent to Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director
Christopher Wray, and Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss – currently undertaking
the criminal investigation in Hunter Biden, according to the Washington
Examiner.
The Whistleblower
allegations relates to Hunter Biden and his uncle James Biden who have been
involved with the Chinese government linked energy conglomerate CEFC China
Energy as well as Hunter Biden’s work for Ukrainian gas giant Burisma Holdings,
according to the Washington Examiner.
Sen.
Grassley reportedly said his staff "reviewed the unclassified
records" which supports the whistleblower claims.
“Based on
recent protected disclosures to my office, the FBI has within its possession
significant, impactful, and voluminous evidence with respect to potential
criminal conduct by Hunter Biden and James Biden,” Grassley said in the letter,
according to the Washington Examiner.
According to
Grassley’s letter, Tony Bobulinski, a Navy veteran and former business
associate of Hunter Biden went to the FBI in October 2020 to detail the Biden
family’s plan to do business in China.
“The information provided by Mr. Bobulinski formed a sufficient basis to open a full field investigation on pay-to-play grounds; however, it is unclear whether the FBI did so and whether the information is part of the ongoing criminal investigation by U.S. Attorney Weiss,” Grassley said.
CEFC which
is now longer in business is a multibillion-dollar Chinese company founded by
Ye Jianming, a business tycoon with whom Hunter and James Biden tried to work
out numerous deals and consequently received millions of dollars, the
Washington Examiner reported.
“The
evidence within the FBI’s possession that I am referencing is included, in
part, in a summary of Tony Bobulinski’s October 23, 2020, interview with FBI
agents,” Grassley's letter states. “In that interview, Mr. Bobulinski stated
that the arrangement Hunter Biden and James Biden created with foreign
nationals connected to the communist Chinese government included assisting them
with potential business deals and investments while Joe Biden was Vice
President; however, that work remained intentionally uncompensated while Joe
Biden was Vice President. After Joe Biden left the Vice Presidency, the summary
makes clear that Hunter Biden and James Biden worked with CEFC and affiliated
individuals to compensate them for that past work and the benefits they
procured for CEFC.”
Hunter Biden
may do jail time over his failure to register properly as a foreign agent while
doing some of his business ventures abroad.
Biden
registered as a lobbyist for domestic interest, but he never registered under
the federal Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), according to a report by
The New York Post.
The 1938 law
mandates individuals acting as “an agent, representative, employee, or servant
… at the order, request, or under the direction or control of a ‘foreign
principal,'” must register with the US government, New York Post reported.
Hunter Biden’s
top lieutenant, Patrick Ho was sentenced to three years in prison in March 2019
for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, according to the Washington
Examiner.
Hunter Biden
reportedly struck a $1 million legal retainer agreement with Ho following his
arrest whom he called “spy chief of China,” according to a recording dated May
11, 2018, the Washington Examiner reported.
“The FBI has
within its possession a different document, dated in October 2020, but
referencing events that occurred years before. That document indicates that in
May 2017 — approximately three months after the joint venture was hatched in
Miami and the same month it was officially formed — Hunter Biden yelled at CEFC
officials at a meeting for failing to fund the joint venture," Grassley
wrote. "That same document notes that as of July 2017 the money still had
not been transferred and James Biden considered calling CEFC officials and
threatening to withdraw Biden family support from future deals.”
Grassley
earlier said in financial reports that CEFC Infrastructure Investment wired $5
million to bank accounts for Hudson West III in August 2017, an amount which
was later transferred to Hunter Biden’s firm, Owasco, and James Biden’s firm,
Lion Hall Group, according to the Washington Examiner.
Grassley
said he had provided potential evidence of criminality tied to Hunter Biden’s
work for Burisma, which reportedly paid Hunter Biden $50,000 a month to serve
on its board at the time his father was vice president.
“The FBI has
within its possession a series of documents relating to information on Mykola
Zlochevsky, the owner of Burisma, and his business and financial associations
with Hunter Biden,” Grassley wrote in his new letter. “The documents in the
FBI’s possession include specific details with respect to conversations by
non-government individuals relevant to potential criminal conduct by Hunter
Biden.”
In his 2021
memoir, Beautiful Things, Hunter Biden defended Zlochevsky and called the
Burisma work “inspiring” and “consequential” while also admitting that “the pay
was good” and that “there’s no question my last name was a coveted credential,”
the Washington Examiner reported.
The Justice Department is investigating Hunter Biden's overseas business schemes. The
investigations include violations of foreign lobbying laws and money
laundering.
In China,
his work for energy company CEFC indicates the company’s interest in gaining
influence in the United States.
According to
New York Post, while Ukrainian energy company Burisma paid Hunter Biden $83,333
a month to sit on its board, Hunter Biden introduced Vadym Pozharskyi – one of
the company’s top executives – to his father, emails reveal less than three
years later.
Hunter Biden
and Eric Schwerin, the president of Hunter’s investment firm Rosemont Seneca Partners
discussed their worries over domestic and foreign lobbying rules and appear to
have consciously chosen to remain unregistered, hard drive emails show,
according to New York Post.
“Was reading an article saying how [former White House Chief of Staff William] Daley was never a ‘registered’ lobbyist although he directed [Telecoms company] SBC and JP Morgan’s lobbying efforts. Also, the article noted that he was registered as Foreign Lobbyist under FARA at one point … sometimes I wonder why we stress about this so much,” Schwerin wrote to Hunter in Jan. 8, 2011.