Politics

Joe Biden Said His Family Wouldn’t Engage In Foreign Business If He Won The Election, But Records Show Hunter Still Holds Stake In Chinese Firm

Business records show that Hunter Biden continues to hold a 10% stake in a Chinese private equity firm despite multiple promises from President-elect Joe Biden that no one in his family would engage in business with foreign corporations or governments if he is elected president.

Hunter Biden holds equity in BHR Partners through his company, Skaneateles LLC, according to Qixinbao and Baidu, two independent services that provide business records on Chinese corporations based on China’s National Credit Information Publicity System.

BHR is co-owned by the Chinese state-controlled Bank of China, business records for the firm show.

Hunter Biden is the sole beneficial owner of Skaneateles LLC, according to Washington D.C. corporate records accessed Monday.

Joe Biden’s presidential transition team and Hunter Biden’s lawyer, George Mesires, did not return multiple requests for comment asking if Hunter Biden intends to relinquish or sell his 10% stake in BHR prior to Joe Biden’s inauguration in January.

Joe Biden promised in no uncertain terms in October 2019 that no one in his family would engage in foreign business if he was elected president.

“No one in my family will have an office in the White House, will sit in on meetings as if they are a cabinet member, will, in fact, have any business relationship with anyone that relates to a foreign corporation or a foreign country,” Joe Biden told reporters in Iowa. “Period. Period. End of story.”

Joe Biden reiterated his pledge in December 2019, telling Axios on HBO: “They will not be engaged in any foreign business because of what’s happened in this administration.”

“No one’s going to be seeking patents for things from China. No one’s going to be engaged in that kind of thing,” Joe Biden said.

BHR manages the equivalent of $2.1 billion in assets, according to its website.

Hunter Biden served as an unpaid member of the BHR’s board when it was founded in 2013 and obtained his 10% stake in the firm in October 2017 with a $420,000 investment, according to a statement from his lawyer in October 2019.

Mesires said in the statement that Hunter Biden had not received any return on his investment in BHR, nor had there been any distribution to BHR’s shareholders since he obtained his stake in the firm.

Mesires also said in the statement that Hunter Biden had pledged to resign from the BHR board by the end of October 2017, however, Chinese business records for the firm did not reflect his departure from the board until April.

Joe Biden lauded Hunter Biden’s announcement that he would leave the board of BHR as a representation of “the kind of man of integrity he is.”