Republicans dig in on $10 MILLION in foreign money-linked payments to Biden family members
Republicans are digging into more than $10 million received by Biden family members from foreign actors, including previously undisclosed $1 million in Romania-linked payments, and a “web” of 20 companies founded while President Joe Biden was Vice-President was president and was pushing anti-corruption efforts abroad.
On Wednesday, Republicans on the House Oversight Committee led by Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., released a “Second Records Memorandum” that builds on information it has received from subpoenas as the committee continues its investigation into the business practices of the Biden family continues.
The memo specifically outlines the Biden family’s ties to Romanian “influence peddling” and a web of LLCs that sprang up while Biden was vice president. It also accuses President Biden of a “lack of transparency” regarding his family’s receipt of money from China, which he said is “untrue.”
It details the family’s attempts to hide, hide and confuse sources of money — including more Chinese money, according to a commission aide.
During Biden’s time as vice president, there were 20 companies affiliated with certain Biden family members that were intentionally created with a “complicated corporate structure,” the memo states.
Hunter Biden and his associates, including Rob Walker, made up “at least 15” of those companies after Biden assumed the position of vice president in 2009.
Several of those entities, including Owasco PC — which Hunter owned — Hudson West III, LLC, Robinson Walker, LLC and Rosemont Seneca Bohai, LLC, accepted funds from foreign companies ranging from $5,000 to $3 million, the commission says.
During Biden’s time as vice president, there were 20 companies affiliated with certain Biden family members that were intentionally created with a “complicated corporate structure,” the memo states.
Defending his son Hunter, Biden said last Friday night during an interview with MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle, “First of all, my son has done nothing wrong”
Specifically, this is “evidence of influence and a connection between the work of the Biden family and their business partners,” the Republicans claim, pointing to multiple anti-corruption speeches and meetings with Romanian leaders who then had Vice President Biden between 2014 and 2015.
The Romanian transactions described in bank records released by the commission came from Cypriot – a company controlled by Gabriel Popoviciu, who was under investigation for criminal corruption in Romania and convicted of bribery-related offences.
Between 2015 and 2017, Robinson Walker, LLC received $3 million from Bladon Enterprises Limited – Popoviciu’s Cypriot company – which was then disbursed to family members of Biden.
The LLC received its first payments just weeks after then-Vice President Biden hosted Romanian President Klaus Iohannis at the White House.
Biden family accounts received $1.038 million from Robinson Walker, LLC in a series of 17 deposits, 16 of which were made while Biden was still in the White House.
“Bank records show that the Bidens used Robinson Walker, LLC to hide that the source of these payments was Popovici,” the memo says.
The memo “also serves as a response to misinformation,” say Republicans, which has been distributed by President Biden, Congressional Democrats and their allies regarding the findings in an initial memo released last month.
On March 16, Comer released a “First Bank Records Memorandum” detailing a 2017 $3 million payment received by Biden family member Rob Walker from CEFC China Energy affiliate State Energy HK Limited.
About $1 million of that money was then passed on by Walker to various Biden family members — including Hallie Biden — in more than 15 incremental payments.
Hunter and Hallie Biden started dating after the death of her husband Beau Biden
“It is unclear what services were provided to arrive at this exorbitant amount,” Comer said when the first memo was released.
The new memo released Wednesday contains additional information about Ye Jianming and his company CEFC, including the role of the company’s US “envoy” Gongwen Dong — which lawmakers say is evidence that the Chinese Communist Party is trying to establish a relationship to ‘cultivate’ with the Biden. family directly.
The Republicans accuse Ye and Dong of “seducing” Biden family members with millions of dollars “in exchange for influence and legitimacy” in the US and globally.
Dong founded several LLCs in the US, including in Delaware, under the variation of the phrase “Hudson West,” including one in which Dong and Hunter Biden owned 50 percent each.
The bank records show that between 2017 and 2018, Hudson West sent more than $4 million to Hunter Biden’s affiliates and $75,000 to James Biden’s entities.
In addition, Hunter Biden’s “personal entity” of Owasco PC received $100,000 directly from CEFC Infrastructure in 2017.
Ian Sams, the president’s White House special assistant and spokesman for oversight, denounced Comer in a statement ahead of the news conference calling out his “absurd” attacks.
James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, loudly and proudly broadcasts a press conference today to continue his long pattern of absurd claims that President Biden has made government decisions that are not in the interests of America, but of the Chinese Communist Party, using baseless claims. personal attacks and innuendos to score political points.’ said Sam.
The commission is committed to creating “legislative solutions” that require greater transparency in the vice president or the president’s immediate family — particularly in “income, wealth and financial relationships” — the memo states.
As part of the push for greater transparency, Republicans say the Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering laws should be strengthened.
The committee is still examining whether ethical and financial disclosure laws should require a government official to disclose the identities of the 20 companies founded by the Biden family.