Hunter Biden purportedly still owns a stake in a Chinese private equity firm, despite scrutiny about his overseas business dealings. Hunter joined the board of BHR Partners in 2013, when it was created.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said in August 2019 that “BHR was formed in November of 2013 by a merger between the Chinese-government linked firm, Bohai Capital, and a company named Rosemont Seneca Partners,” which was co-founded by Hunter.
Previously reported by TheBlaze:
In 2015, BHR, in partnership with the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, acquired the U.S. auto company Henniges Automotive for $600 million. Henniges produces technologies that have military applications. The Aviation Industry Corporation of China has been suspected in the past of hacking U.S. networks to steal military airplane designs for their own use.
BHR Partners, which manages over $2.3 billion in assets, is co-owned by the Bank of China, which is one of the four biggest state-owned Chinese banks.
More on BHR from Fox News:
BHR was named as one of China’s top 10 Mergers & Acquisitions funds in 2017 by Equity Investment Association of China (EIAC) and the Beijing Private Equity Association (BPEA). BHR went on to receive “top honors” at the 2017 China Venture Awards, which also named the CEO Jonathan Li as one of China’s “Top 10 M&A Investors 2016.”
In October 2019, Biden announced that he was stepping down from the board of BHR, and his lawyer claimed that there was no wrongdoing that prompted that decision.
“Hunter will agree not to serve on boards of, or work on behalf of, foreign-owned companies,” George Mesires said in his statement.
At the time, presidential candidate Joe Biden applauded his son’s decision by saying it “represents the kind of man of integrity he is and what in fact he has done and why he stepped down.”
“He’s decided that he does not think that is good to do. He has said that he does not like the appearance of it,” Joe Biden said, ABC News reported.
Biden added that there would be no conflicts of interest in his administration. “No one in my family will have an office in the White House, will sit in at meetings as if they’re a cabinet member, will in fact have any business relationship with anyone that relates to a foreign corporation or a foreign country. Period. Period. End of story,” Joe Biden said in the ABC News report.
A new report from the Daily Caller claims that Hunter still owns his stake in the Chinese firm. The report found that Hunter continues to hold a 10% stake in the firm through his company, Skaneateles LLC, where he is the sole beneficial owner, according to Washington corporate records. The report was based on corporation records filed with China’s National Credit Information Publicity System through Qixinbao and Baidu, independent services that provide Chinese market research.
In late December, there were reports from the Daily Mail and Fox News that Hunter was in the process of unloading his stake in BHR, according to an unnamed source familiar with Hunter Biden’s business dealings.
In December 2019, Joe Biden pledged that his family would not be involved in overseas business dealings.
“They will not be engaged in any foreign business because of what’s happened in this administration,” Biden said in an interview with “Axios on HBO,” while taking a shot at then-President Donald Trump. “No one’s going to be seeking patents for things from China. No one’s going to be engaged in that kind of thing. If you want to talk about problems, let’s talk about Trump’s family.”
Hunter Biden has been scrutinized for his business relationship with foreign companies, especially CEFC China Energy and Ukrainian gas company Burisma, which he was a board member of.
A September 2020 report alleged that Hunter Biden held a stake in a Chinese tech company that had been sanctioned by the U.S. for its purported involvement in the surveillance of Uighurs and Chinese Muslims in the Xinjiang region.
*story by The Blaze
