A top Biden family business associate is negotiating an interview with House investigators about foreign deals revolving around then-Vice President Joseph R. Biden.
Devon Archer, a friend and former business partner of Mr. Biden’s son Hunter Biden, is in discussions to cooperate with the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, a Republican source told The Washington Times. No date has been set.
The committee wants Archer to provide information about his transactions with Russian billionaire Elena Baturina, who sent a $3.5 million payment to a company linked to Archer and Hunter Biden.
Archer was recently convicted of swindling millions of dollars from the Wakpamni tribe of South Dakota. In June, he lost an appeal to have the conviction thrown out, which means he may begin serving a sentence of one year plus a day in prison.
Congressional investigators first want to talk with Archer about his business ties to the Bidens.
Rep. James Comer, Kentucky Republican and chairman of the oversight committee, said Archer has “significant information” about business deals that enabled Biden family members to pocket millions of dollars. Archer also could provide a critical link to President Biden’s involvement in the scheme.
“There is no doubt that Devon Archer should be a treasure trove of information,” said Sen. Ron Johnson, Wisconsin Republican. Mr. Johnson and Sen. Chuck Grassley, Iowa Republican, have been investigating Archer and several other associates who worked with Hunter Biden on foreign business deals dating to President Biden’s term as vice president.
Among the transactions involving Archer is Ms. Baturina’s $3.5 million wire transfer to Rosemont Seneca Thornton, a company linked to Archer and Hunter Biden.
Ms. Baturina, the widow of former Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, funneled an additional tens of millions of dollars into companies tied to Hunter Biden and Archer for real estate investments in the U.S., according to the Kazakhstani Initiative on Asset Recovery, an anti-corruption group.
The reason Ms. Baturina made the $3.5 million wire transfer to Rosemont Seneca Thornton is unknown, House investigators said, but it was described as a “consultancy fee.”
The panel subpoenaed Archer for all information related to his transactions with Ms. Baturina and Rosemont Seneca Thornton.
Archer is thought to be one of the most critical witnesses in the House oversight probe because he was closely involved in lucrative Biden family business deals involving Ukraine, Russia and China, according to House and Senate investigators.
Archer could also provide a direct link between the foreign business deals and President Biden, who has denied involvement in or knowledge of the transactions.
Archer met with Mr. Biden in the White House in April 2014, just a few days before the vice president was dispatched to Ukraine to offer U.S. assistance with energy production and other economic aid.
Shortly after Mr. Biden’s Ukraine trip, Archer was hired to the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company. Hunter Biden was named to the Burisma board just a few weeks later.
The two were paid huge salaries in what an FBI informant described as a scheme for the vice president to use his power to fire a Ukrainian prosecutor investigating suspected corruption at the energy company.
The alleged bribery scheme was revealed in an FBI memo obtained last week by the oversight panel.
A top executive for Burisma, who congressional investigators think is company President Mykola Zlochevsky, told a paid FBI informant that he bribed Mr. Biden with a $5 million payment in 2015 and 2016 to get Mr. Biden to force out prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who was investigating Burisma.
“We know he wanted to be rehabilitated,” Mr. Johnson said of the Burisma executive. “He wanted a U.S. visa. He wanted to be able to get involved in oil and gas leases associated with the U.S. company. So that was the whole point.”
Mr. Grassley said the FBI memo redacted Mr. Zlochevsky’s claim that he has audio recordings of phone calls with President Biden and Hunter Biden.
Republicans say the deals have compromised Mr. Biden’s presidency.
Democrats say Republican claims of influence peddling are based on Russian disinformation and are not backed up by any hard evidence.
“Republicans have absolutely zero evidence of any wrongdoing by President Biden,” Rep. Daniel Goldman, a New York Democrat who served as the top aide in President Trump’s first impeachment hearing. “But that hasn’t stopped them from trafficking in debunked allegations funneled to them by Russian intelligence officials.”
Hunter Biden’s attorney George Mesires told CNN that his client was not a co-owner with Archer of Rosemont Seneca Thornton and did not receive any of the $3.5 million.
Republican investigators think Hunter Biden is tied to the company.
Hunter Biden co-founded Rosemont Seneca Partners in 2009 with Archer and Christopher Heinz, a stepson of President Biden’s climate envoy John Kerry. The Financial Times reported that Rosemont Seneca Thornton is “a consortium” of Rosemont Seneca Partners and the Massachusetts-based Thornton Group, whose website showed images of Hunter Biden attending company events.
An attorney for Archer did not respond to a Times request for comment.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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