Politics

Investigators Request Info From Feds’ Prosecution Of Chinese Ex-Hunter Biden Associate

President Joe Biden hugs his family during the 59th Presidential Inauguration ceremony in Washington, Jan. 20, 2021. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took the oath of office on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol. (DOD Photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Carlos M. Vazquez II)

Congressional investigators are seeking documents from the federal prosecution of a former business associate of Hunter Biden.

The House Oversight and Accountability Committee wrote a Tuesday letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) requesting that it hand over documents from the federal prosecution of Patrick Ho, a Chinese businessman formerly involved with Hunter Biden sentenced to three years in prison for bribing African officials to take action that would benefit CEFC China Energy Company Limited, according to the letter’s text. Congressional investigators are seeking data from Ho’s iPad, as well as an unredacted copy of an email that could detail the efforts of Vuk Jeremic — the former president of the United Nations general assembly and then-consultant for CEFC — to introduce CEFC higher-ups to Hunter Biden and his associates in December 2015.

“Information obtained by the Committees indicate that prosecutors sought to keep the Biden name out of Mr. Ho’s trial. First, as the Oversight Committee previously noted, prosecutors in Mr. Ho’s case seemingly redacted Hunter Biden’s name from evidence used at trial. During Mr. Ho’s trial, former president of the United Nations General Assembly Vuk Jeremic testified that following his term as president, he worked as a consultant for CEFC, which involved ‘opening doors’ for CEFC by ‘introducing company executives to the business or political leadership of various countries,'” the letter states.

“As part of this work, in December 2015, Mr. Jeremic ‘attempted to introduce Chairman Ye and CEFC to Hunter Biden and his associates.’ During the trial, a prosecutor requested that the judge redact from an email between Ho and Jeremic that DOJ intended to introduce into evidence the name of ‘an individual that Mr. Jeremic was willing to bring to a dinner with the chairman Mr. Ye,” it continued.

Oversight Patrick Ho Documents Letter by Nick Pope on Scribd

The letter notes that federal prosecutors opted to redact the individual’s name because disclosing the identity would have exposed the case to political dynamics that the government’s prosecutors did not consider to be worth the trouble, according to the letter.

The lawmakers instructed U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to produce the requested documents by March 5.

Ho agreed to pay Hunter Biden $1 million in fees pursuant to Ho’s trial for the African bribery scheme in the Southern District of New York in 2017, even though Hunter Biden was not licensed to practice law in New York state, according to the letter. Hunter Biden reportedly moved to assist Ho defend himself after Ye Jianming, the chairman of CEFC, made clear he was concerned that investigators were probing Ho, according to The New Yorker.

Hunter Biden and his associates appear to have started their relationship with CEFC as early as 2015, according to the House Oversight and Accountability Committee. Over the ensuing years, the firm or its affiliates paid Hunter Biden and his partners millions of dollars, including a $3 million payout after Joe Biden stopped by a meeting attended by his son and his Chinese business partners, according to Jan. 26 testimony of Rob Walker, a former associate of Hunter Biden.

Neither the DOJ nor the White House responded immediately to requests for comment.