Two Senate Republicans have released a report based on newly obtained documents that show further close financial and operational ties between Hunter Biden and a mega-rich Chinese tycoon linked to the communist party.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley of Iowa and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Ron Johnson said the deep ties “create counterintelligence and extortion concerns” as Joseph R. Biden prepares for the U.S. presidency.
Son Hunter Biden was the subject of a Grassley-Johnson Republican staff report on Sept. 23 that showed huge suspicious wire transfers from Russian and Ukraine oligarchs to Hunter in 2014 while Joseph Biden was vice president.
The report, based on Treasury Department Suspicious Activity Reports (SARS) filed by financial institutions who handled the wires, also disclosed millions of dollars from Chinese entities. Hunter diverted some of that money to uncle James Biden, his business partner. His wife refused to cooperate with the bank when it made inquiries, the SARS reports said.
The new Senate report deals with documents turned over by former business associate, and now whistleblower, Tony Bobulinski. He came forward publicly last month after the contents of Hunter Biden’s discarded MacBook Pro laptop ended up with the New York Post and other media.
The text and email messages showed that former vice president Joseph Biden was discussed by Hunter’s partners, including Mr. Bobulinski, as due to receive a 10 percent stake in an emerging joint Chinese investment firm. The messages also showed Hunter made arrangements for a Ukraine oligarch representative to meet with Vice President Biden. Mr. Biden has denied any knowledge of his son’s far-flung multi-million dollar business deals.
Mr. Bobulinski calls this a lie. He says he personally met with Mr. Biden at a Los Angeles hotel in 2017 to discuss Hunter’s new investment firm geared toward China.
Hunter’s money world included these figures: Robinson “Rob” Walker, a long time family associate, James Gilliar, a British financier, uncle James Biden, who made money from a number of overseas government contracts while his brother was vice president, and new member Mr. Bobulinski, a proven investor slated to run the venture.
In China, Hunter’s money flow stemmed from a close relationship with Ye Jianming, a communist party-affiliated billionaire who headed CEFC China Energy Co., and his associate, Gongwen Dong.
In 2018, Asian media reported Chinese authorities accused Mr. Ye of corruption and he disappeared.
The Senate report contains new bank wire disclosure: transfers totaling $6 million in 2017 from the Chinese firm Shanghai State Energy HK to Rob Walker and his one person LLC in Delaware. In February, $3 million; in March, another $3 million.
State Energy is tied to Mr. Ye’s CEFC. Mr. Walker was an associate in Rosemont Seneca, another Hunter Biden entity. He worked with Mr. Gilliar to make investments deals with CEFC in 2015-16, the Senate report said.
The Nov 18 Grassley-Johnson report said, “These transactions are a direct link between Walker and the communist Chinese government and, because of his close association with Hunter Biden, yet another tie between Hunter Biden’s financial arrangements and the communist Chinese government. At the time of the transfers, State Energy HK Limited was affiliated with CEFC China Energy, which was under the leadership of Ye Jianming.”
The Senate report highlighted Bobulinski-provided messages that show Hunter Biden’s deep involvement with Mr. Ye’s foreign financial adventures.
- A May 15, 2017 message thread said that Hunter Biden had become a strategist and middle-man for Mr. Ye as the billionaire sought deals in Colombia, Luxembourg, Romania and Oman.
The Senate report quoted an email from James Gilliar to Mr. Bobulinski and Hunter Biden, copied to Rob Walker and James Biden.
Relying on the email and Mr. Bobulinski’s documents, the Senate report said, “With regard to Oman, the document noted that Hunter Biden ‘was key in relationship set up, messaging the good will around the chairman [Ye Jianming] and the non-conflict status of CEFC entry.’”
“It also identified Hunter Biden as being responsible for ‘[w]riting to all parties and organizing meetings to continue CEFC promote [sic], as well as approving step-by-step strategic and operational elements.’ The document further referenced efforts by James Gilliar and his team and characterized their role as that of ‘liaison and confidant of HB [Hunter Biden] and partners.’”
- In another Bobulinski-supplied text message, Hunter Biden in October 2017 described his relationship with Mr. Ye and the fact he advised Mr. Ye on his bid to invest in the giant Russian energy firm Rosneft.
The Senate report said, “In the same exchange, Biden explained that he spoke to Ye on a ‘regular basis,’ they have a ‘standing once a week call,’ was the ‘first guest in his new apartment,’ ‘he cooked me lunch himself and we ate in the kitchen together,’ and was helping Ye ‘on a number of his personal issues (staff visas and some more sensitive things).’”
Mr. Grassley and Mr. Johnson summed up the Bobulinski disclosures:
“Accordingly, these new records confirm the connections between the Biden family and the communist Chinese government, as well as the links between Hunter Biden’s business associates and the Russian government, and further support the Committees’ September 23, 2020 report’s finding that such relationships created counterintelligence and extortion concerns.”
A previous laptop computer disclosure showed that Hunter Biden was demanding $10 million a year from Mr. Ye for “introductions alone” for three years and a $30 million guarantee.
Mr Biden, who has a well-publicized drug addiction, left his computer at a Wilmington repair shop in April 2019 and never returned. The shop owner eventually provided hard drive copies to the FBI and Rudy Giuliani, President Trump’s attorney.
The Sept. 23 Senate report was the first detailed picture of Hunter Biden collecting large sums of money from corrupt world players. The transfers were so suspicious, suggesting money laundering, that institutions reported them to the U.S. Treasury.
The report disclosed a $5 million bank wire transfer from CEFC to a Hunter Biden firm Hudson West in August 2017. From Hudson, $4.78 million was sent over 12 months to Hunter’s law firm, Owasco.
The report summarized:
“The Treasury records acquired by the Chairmen show potential criminal activity relating to transactions among and between Hunter Biden, his family, and his associates with Ukrainian, Russian, Kazakh and Chinese nationals. In particular, these documents show that Hunter Biden received millions of dollars from foreign sources as a result of business relationships that he built during the period when his father was vice president of the United States and after.”
• Rowan Scarborough can be reached at rscarborough@washingtontimes.com.
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