Politics

Hunter Biden Still Listed As Board Member Of Chinese Company He Pledged To Resign From In October, Business Records Show

• Hunter Biden’s pledge in October to resign from the board of a Chinese private equity firm received widespread media coverage.
  
• Former Vice President Joe Biden lauded his son’s announcement to relinquish his board position with BHR Partners as a sign of his integrity.
• Hunter Biden’s lawyer, George Mesires, told the Daily Caller News Foundation in November that Hunter Biden had followed through on his pledge to resign from the firm, but he not provide any evidence of his departure at the time.
  
• Chinese business records accessed Tuesday show that Hunter Biden is still listed as a member of BHR’s board of directors  — six months after he pledged to relinquish the position.

Hunter Biden received wall-to-wall media coverage and praise from his father, former Vice President Joe Biden, in October when he announced he would resign from the board of a Chinese private equity firm by the end of the month.

But six months after Hunter Biden pledged to relinquish his position with BHR Partners, no evidence has surfaced to prove he actually followed through on his promise.

Hunter Biden’s lawyer, George Mesires, told the Daily Caller News Foundation in early November that his client had resigned from BHR’s board, but he did not provide any evidence of his departure from the Chinese private equity firm at the time.

Chinese business records the DCNF accessed Tuesday still name Hunter Biden as a director of BHR. He also retains a 10% equity stake in BHR through his company, Skaneateles LLC, business records for the Chinese private equity firm show.

BHR manages the equivalent of $2.1 billion in assets, according to its website. Hunter Biden has served as an unpaid member of BHR’s board since its founding in 2013, and in October 2017 he obtained his equity stake in the firm with a $420,000 investment, according to Mesires.

Hunter Biden had arranged for then-Vice President Joe Biden to shake hands with the CEO of BHR in December 2013, a meeting that caused some White House advisors to worry whether the younger Biden was exposing his father to criticism, The New Yorker reported.

In a statement issued Oct. 13 by his lawyer, Hunter Biden pledged to resign his position on BHR’s board “on or by October 31.” The statement did not say whether Hunter Biden intended to relinquish his ownership stake in the Chinese private equity firm.

Hunter Biden’s pledge received widespread media coverage in The Washington Post, The New York Times and elsewhere.

Joe Biden, now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, lauded his son’s announcement at the time.

“The statement my son put out today, which I saw when he put it out — I was told it was going to be put out, I did not consult with him about what’s being put out — in fact represents the kind of man of integrity he is,” Joe Biden said in October.

The former vice president pledged in December that none of his family members, including Hunter Biden, would engage in foreign business activities were he to become the next president.

As of Tuesday, BHR’s file on China’s National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (NECIPS) still lists Hunter Biden as being a director of BHR.

Qixinbao, an independent service that provides registration information on Chinese corporations, also listed Hunter Biden as a member of the BHR board on Tuesday.

Hunter Biden listed as a member of the BHR Partners board of directors on April 14, 2020. (Qixinbao / Screenshot)

BHR has not responded to numerous inquiries seeking clarification on why Chinese business records continue to list Hunter Biden as a member of its board.

Hunter Biden’s continued presence on BHR’s business file does not appear to be due to a processing delay in the NECIPS. The Chinese business records site shows a change for BHR was submitted as recently as March 24 to reflect the resignation of Hunter Biden’s business partner, Eric Schwerin, as the firm’s supervisor.

Schwerin’s relationship with Hunter Biden dates back to at least 2008 when the pair served as lobbyists for Oldaker, Biden & Belair.

Hunter Biden’s company, Skaneateles, also retains its 10% equity stake in BHR, according to the Chinese business records. Hunter Biden is the sole listed beneficial owner of Skaneateles, Washington, D.C. business records show.

Skaneateles’s listed address is also the listed address for the $3.8 million designer home in Los Angeles that Hunter Biden is reportedly renting out for $12,000 a month, according to Skaneateles’s business records in Washington, D.C.

Mesires, Hunter Biden’s lawyer, did not tell the DCNF why Chinese business records still list Hunter Biden as being a member of BHR’s board and did not provide any documents relating to his pledged departure from the Chinese firm.

The Biden campaign did not return a request for comment.