Politics

Foreign Money Flowing To Hunter Biden Triggered Bank Alarm Bells As ‘Potential Criminal Financial Activity,’ Senate Investigation Finds

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• Foreign money flowing to Hunter Biden triggered alarm bells at banks as “potential criminal financial activity,” according to a Senate investigation released Wednesday.
• The Senate investigation cited numerous transactions that banks flagged in reports to the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
• In one of the transactions, Chinese billionaire Ye Jianming’s company sent $100,000 to Hunter’s law firm, according to the report.
• In another transaction, Chinese financier Gongwen Dong opened a line of credit with Hunter, which Hunter Biden, James Biden and James’s wife Sara used for a $100,000 spending spree, the report stated.

Streams of foreign money flowing to Hunter Biden repeatedly triggered internal banking alarms as “potential criminal financial activity,” according to an investigation by two Senate committees released Wednesday.

The Senate Homeland Security Committee and Senate Finance Committee’s investigation probed Hunter Biden’s foreign dealings during Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s tenure as vice president. The report cited at least four large transactions that banks flagged in suspicious activity reports (SARS) to the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

“The Treasury records acquired by the Chairmen show potential criminal activity relating to transactions among and between Hunter Biden, his family, and his associates with Ukrainian, Russian, Kazakh and Chinese nationals,” the report stated.

“In particular, these documents show that Hunter Biden received millions of dollars from foreign sources as a result of business relationships that he built during the period when his father was vice president of the United States and after.”

The report noted that the transactions cited “do not illustrate the full extent of the material” obtained by the committees, but “are designed to illustrate the depth and extent of some questionable financial transactions” and “illustrate serious counterintelligence and extortion concerns relating to Hunter Biden and his family.”

The report does not indicate whether federal authorities ever investigated Hunter Biden’s transactions mentioned in the report.

At least two transactions flagged for “potential criminal financial activity” involved Hunter Biden and Chinese nationals, according to the report.

In August 2017, a subsidiary of CEFC China Energy, which was owned by Chinese billionaire Ye Jianming at the time, sent Hunter Biden’s law firm, Owasco, a $100,000 payment that “was identified for potential criminal financial activity,” according to the report.

Another transaction was flagged a month later, when a Chinese national linked to Ye opened a line of credit with Hunter Biden, which multiple members of the Biden family used for lavish purchases, according to the report.

The line of credit was opened the same day that CEFC signed a much-heralded deal with Russian oil giant Rosneft in September 2017, the report noted.

“On the same day that the impending Rosneft deal was announced, Hunter Biden and Gongwen Dong, a Chinese national who has reportedly executed transactions for limited liability companies controlled by Ye Jianming, applied to a bank and opened a line of credit under the business name Hudson West III LLC,” the report stated.

Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s brother James and James’s wife Sara “were all authorized users of credit cards associated with the account. The Bidens subsequently used the credit cards they opened to purchase $101,291.46 worth of extravagant items, including airline tickets and multiple items at Apple Inc. stores, pharmacies, hotels and restaurants,” the report said.

“The cards were collateralized by transferring $99,000 from a Hudson West III account to a separate account, where the funds were held until the cards were closed. The transaction was identified for potential financial criminal activity.”

James and Sara Biden were also involved in another one of Hunter Biden’s transactions that was flagged for potential criminal activity.

The report noted that “starting on Aug. 8, the same day the $5 million was received, and continuing through Sept. 25, 2018, Hudson West III sent frequent payments to Owasco, Hunter Biden’s firm. These payments, which were described as consulting fees, reached $4,790,375.25 in just over a year.”

Less than a week later, Owasco started moving money to James Biden’s consulting firm, Lion Hall Group, according to the report.

“Between Aug. 14, 2017 and Aug. 3, 2018, Owasco sent 20 wires totaling $1,398,999 to the Lion Hall Group, a consulting firm that lists James Biden and his wife, Sara Biden, on the bank account. This transaction was identified for potential criminal financial activity,” the report stated.

The report noted that Sara Biden was largely uncooperative when the bank investigated the transactions. Sara said the payments were related to a join project but “told the bank that she would not provide any supporting documentation, and she also refused to provide additional information to more clearly explain the activity,” the report stated.

“Consequently, the bank submitted the account for closure.”

Another flagged transaction involved Hunter’s law firm and Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company on whose board Hunter sat from April 2014 until April 2019.

Burisma began sending regular payments to Owasco in January 2016, according to the report. The payments “continued throughout most of 2016 and ceased eight days after Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 8, 2016 presidential election,” the report stated.

“Between Jan. 25, 2016, and Nov. 16, 2016, Burisma sent nine wires totaling $752,054.99 to Owasco with each of the nine transactions listing ‘Owasco, PC/Robert Biden’ as the recipient,” the report stated, noting that the payments “were identified for potential financial criminal activity.”

Hunter Biden’s legal counsel did not return a request for comment for this article.