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House Republicans Claim Hunter Biden ‘Directly Implicated’ in Fraudulent Bond Scheme, Demand Answers from SEC
Hunter was subpoenaed as part of an SEC probe into a tribal bond-issuance scheme. Several of his business partners were charged, but Hunter wasn’t.
House Republicans are pressing the Securities and Exchange Commission for more information on its investigation of Hunter Biden’s business associates and affiliated entities in connection with a fraudulent bond-issuance scheme, which they claim Hunter was “directly implicated” in.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R., Ky.) and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R., Ohio), two leaders of the Biden impeachment inquiry, wrote a letter to the SEC on Tuesday demanding various documents and information about the investigation.
In 2016, the SEC subpoenaed Hunter Biden and Rosemont Seneca Bohai, a business entity linked to Biden, during its investigation into a tribal bond-issuance scheme, which resulted in criminal charges for several individuals, including Devon Archer and Jason Galanis, two former business partners of Hunter Biden’s.
Galanis and Archer have testified for the impeachment inquiry and described their dealings with Hunter Biden and the extent of his father’s apparent involvement. The dealings described in their testimony were unrelated to the bond-issuance scheme.
“The confidential nature of this investigation is very important to our client and it would be unfair, not just to our client, but also to his father, the Vice President of the United States, if his involvement in an SEC investigation and parallel criminal probe were to become the subject of any media attention,” Biden’s attorneys wrote, according to the letter. The statement from Biden’s attorneys is referenced in House Republicans’s criminal referral.
“Mr. Biden’s response gratuitously invoked his father’s position as the Vice President in what could be interpreted as an effort to discourage further SEC scrutiny. And on May 11, 2016, the SEC published a press release—announcing the charging of seven individuals—with no mention or charging of Hunter Biden,” Republicans wrote.
The SEC issued a press release in May 2016 naming Galanis, Archer, and other businessmen announcing charges as part of the bond scheme. Hunter Biden was not mentioned. Galanis and Archer were found guilty in 2018 of defrauding a Native American tribe to the tune of $60 million by issuing and selling the tribe fraudulent bonds. Galanis is serving a lengthy prison sentence for his role in the scheme and Archer is appealing his sentence of 12 months and one day.
House Republicans are asking for documents and communications between the SEC and the White House related to the investigation, and the internal communications about Hunter Biden’s response.
Lawmakers are also seeking the documents Rosemont Seneca Bohai, Hunter Biden, and Devon Archer turned over to the SEC, and the SEC’s justification for seeking the Hunter Biden documents. Lastly, Republicans are requesting the leader of the SEC investigation, Tejal D. Shah, provide an interview for the impeachment inquiry.
Archer testified that he and Biden had a 50-50 handshake deal for ownership of the Rosemont Seneca Bohai entity and Biden was the “corporate secretary” of the account. Documents disclosed by IRS whistleblower Joseph Ziegler last month show Hunter Biden had a role with the Bohai account that he shared with Devon Archer.
The documents turned over by Ziegler formed the basis of House Republicans’s criminal referral of Hunter Biden to the Justice Department for allegedly lying under oath in his congressional testimony earlier this year. Hunter Biden claimed he had no knowledge of Rosemont Seneca Bohai and appeared to falsely suggest he sent a threatening text to the wrong Chinese business associate.
The Justice Department successfully prosecuted Hunter Biden on three federal gun charges in Delaware and continue to pursue nine federal tax charges against him in California. His trial on the tax charges is set to begin in September.
Hunter Biden and Archer used the Bohai account to receive payments from foreign business entities, including Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings, according to bank records released by House investigators last year. Archer was once a close friend and business partner of Hunter Biden’s, and his testimony about Joe Biden’s apparent involvement with his son’s business dealings was a key development in the impeachment inquiry.
Hunter Biden’s attorneys turned over 1,749 documents to the SEC and appeared to invoke his father, then-vice president Joe Biden, in a request for confidentiality, House Republicans said in the letter.