OPINION:
In December 2017, Hunter Biden’s business partner Eric D. Schwerin sent him an email proposing a way to close one of Mr. Biden’s constellation of investment/consulting firms.
Mr. Biden had by then collected millions of dollars from Chinese communists and Russian and Ukraine oligarchs. But one of his firms, Rosemont Seneca Advisors, had no clients. Mr. Schwerin, its president as well as Hunter’s longtime friend and finance manager until a 2019 falling-out, suggested dividing up what cash remained, 75-25, and moving some other funds around.
The idea triggered a brutal email reply from President Biden’s son that belittled and threatened Mr. Schwerin. Now, over five years later, the scolding might prompt him to be a forthcoming witness in a growing House Republican investigation into what they say is Biden family influence peddling.
“I don’t agree with anything in this email, and you have no right to make unilateral decisions regarding my business matters without my explicit consent,” Hunter Biden wrote to Mr. Schwerin, according to messages on his laptop computer hard drive first reported by the New York Post in 2020 and obtained by The Washington Times.
Then, naming some of his assets, he fumed: “There is no reason you should have access to any account related to Owasco Skaneateles, RSP, Rosemont Seneca, RSP Advisors Eudora etc. … You are not a partner in any of these named companies or the myriad of other companies I own outright or by a majority, and I terminated you as an at-will employee for gross negligence.”
Mr. Biden then really grew hot. “Also, if you continue to sit with friends of mine and relationships that are mine and defame me, I will sue you for defamation of character and embezzlement and for the debt with you still have not contributed your supposed 25% share of.”
“We are no longer just done as business partners you should consider moving to somewhere in Florida I’ll never go. Naples is perfect you can live in perpetual time share with your parents and talk about what a horrible person I am.”
Rep. James Comer, the Kentucky Republican who is leading the Biden inquiry as chairman of the House Oversight Committee, told “Just the News, No Noise” in a Feb. 23 broadcast that Mr. Schwerin has agreed to provide information.
“He is cooperating with us,” he told anchors John Solomon and Amanda Head. “I think that Schwerin is going to be a very valuable witness for us in this investigation.”
Laptop messages and documents suggest Mr. Schwerin has a lot to tell about Hunter and his dad, who, as vice president, took his son to China in 2013. The vice president ended up meeting one of his son’s Chinese benefactors, banker Jonathan Li, in a hotel lobby.
A short time later, Mr. Li, as CEO, and Hunter formed BHR Equity Investments.
Two years after the Biden-Schwerin email exchange, the two still had not settled Rosemont Seneca’s fate.
On Jan. 19, 2019, Mr. Schwerin wrote to Mr. Biden that a relatively small amount of money, $14,628, would be transferred to Hunter’s D.C. firm Owasco LLC as a share of proceeds from a recently arrived check.
Hunter was not happy again. “If you touch one dime of that money I promise I will file a lawsuit against you on Tuesday. I promise Eric —no more of your bulls—-.”
Two months later, Hunter seemed willing to accept the money and part ways with Mr. Schwerin.
His lawyer wrote to Mr. Schwerin, “Yes I am trying to help resolve the wind down of your and Hunter’s business relationship.”
Mr. Comer has stated that his ultimate target is President Biden.
Mr. Biden has looked reporters in the eye and said he never, ever discussed his son’s businesses with his son. We know this is not true. Hunter talked in messages about sharing his foreign proceeds with the entire family.
Discussing a new investment house with a Chinese tycoon, a Hunter/uncle James Biden email thread said that a 10% stake would be set aside for “the Big Guy.”
Mr. Schwerin was involved in discussions that reached the elder Biden or his office. By May 2014, Hunter Biden had won a lucrative seat on the board of Burisma, a Ukraine-based energy conglomerate owned by a Kremlin-friendly oligarch. The seating came after his dad was named White House point man for Kyiv.
In an email, Mr. Schwerin tells Hunter he’s been talking to the VP’s office.
“When I talked to your Dad’s office they seemed to think the [former Ukrainian President Viktor] Yanukovich connection was incorrect and that the guy sold in 2011,” Mr. Schwerin wrote. “I assume Kendra and/or Demetra will be interested in clarifying this while you are in the air tomorrow if you know. Let me know if you have any clarity on this you want me to pass on. Have a good flight!”
Mr. Schwerin also brokered an arrangement between Hunter and Mr. Li to get the then-vice president to write a letter to Brown University endorsing Mr. Li’s son for admission.
“Jonathan,” Mr. Schwerin wrote in a 2017 email copied to Hunter, “Hunter asked me to send you a copy of the recommendation letter that he asked his father to write on behalf of Christopher for Brown University. The original is being FedExed to [Brown University President] Dr. [Christina] Paxson directly at Brown. It should be there by Tuesday at the latest (given Monday is a holiday here in the U.S.). Let us know if you have any questions. Best, Eric.”
Replied Mr. Li, “Hi Eric, Just see the email. It is just great! Thank you very much! And Hunter, thank you very much too. All the best to you all. Jonathan.”
Mr. Schwerin made 27 visits to the Obama/Biden White House, the New York Post reported, as Hunter was forming various investment firms to park foreign cash.
Mr. Schwerin also handled Hunter’s taxes and reminded him of what he owed. Currently, a focus of a criminal investigation by the top federal prosecutor in Delaware is whether Hunter Biden committed tax fraud. He has denied any wrongdoing.
As tax season started in January 2016, Mr. Schwerin sent Hunter an email with a rough summary of his income in 2013-15.
“Of the $1,300,000 in cash you received you had to pay $751,294 in taxes. Since you couldn’t have lived on approximately $550,000 a year you ‘borrowed’ some money from RSB in advance of payments,” Mr. Schwerin wrote.
Hunter started on the Burisma board in April 2014 and was paid $400,000 that year, but he did not claim the income on his tax return.
As a friend, partner and tax adviser, Mr. Schwerin gently chided Hunter.
“In 2014 you joined the Burisma board, and we still need to amend your 2014 returns to reflect the unreported Burisma income,” he said in an email. “That is approximately $400,000 extra, so your income in 2014 was closer to $1,247,328.”
Today, Mr. Schwerin, who held the post of trade adviser in the Clinton administration, lists his occupation as president of RSP Investments LLC, according to his LinkedIn page. Shortly after the Clinton term ended, he joined a lobbying firm founded by Hunter Biden. He worked there until 2008.
• Rowan Scarborough is a columnist with The Washington Times.
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