Sen. Grassley: We're following the Hunter Biden money and we want answers
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa., on pressing for details of Hunter Biden’s business deals and the potential involvement of President Biden.
EXCLUSIVE: Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin are sharing with the U.S. attorney leading the criminal investigation into Hunter Biden more than 200 pages of bank records related to his and the Biden family’s alleged "connections to the Chinese regime and persons connected to its military and intelligence elements".
Fox News Digital independently reviewed the bank records Grassley and Johnson obtained throughout the course of their investigation into Hunter Biden’s business dealings. The more than 200 pages of records come from Cathay Bank, the oldest operating bank in the U.S. founded by Chinese Americans.
Grassley and Johnson obtained the records from a U.S. bank in the course of their investigation into Hunter Biden’s business dealings. The records reveal transactions between Hunter Biden-linked business entities and Chinese energy firm CEFC, which reportedly had ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
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Some of those transactions were previously revealed in Grassley and Johnson’s 2020 reports, which they say showed that the Biden family’s "extensive links to foreign governments and questionable foreign nationals posed counterintelligence and extortion concerns."
Grassley and Johnson have been sounding the alarm on these business transactions with Chinese-linked associates CEFC Chairman Ye Jiangming and Gongwen Dong, which "resulted in millions of dollars in questionable transactions."
In a letter Grassley and Johnson wrote to U.S. Attorney for Delaware David Weiss, exclusively obtained by Fox News, the GOP senators notified him of the hundreds of pages of records, and slammed him and the Justice Department for ignoring their attempts to ensure that the criminal probe into Hunter Biden is "thorough and free from political interference." Weiss is leading the probe into Hunter Biden.
"Today, in light of your and DOJ’s failure to respond to our legitimate congressional oversight requests and as part of our ongoing congressional investigation, we are transmitting to you over two hundred pages of records relating to the Biden family’s connections to the Chinese regime and persons connected to its military and intelligence elements," they wrote.
Grassley and Johnson provided records that they said include more than 100 pages of "unredacted and previously unreleased bank records relating to one of Hunter Biden’s businesses, Hudson West III."
"If you are conducting a full and complete investigation, you should already possess these records," they wrote. "In the case that you are not and do not possess these records, we suggest that you review them in detail."
Grassley and Johnson's letter and production of bank records to Weiss, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, comes as federal investigators are weighing whether to charge Hunter Biden with various tax and foreign lobbying violations, false statements and more.
Hunter Biden, son of President Biden, arrives with wife Melissa Cohen Biden prior to President Biden awarding Presidential Medals of Freedom during a ceremony in the East Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 7, 2022. (Kevin Lamarque)
Fox News first reported in July that the federal investigation into President Biden’s son had reached a "critical stage." Hunter Biden has been under federal investigation since 2018.
Grassley and Johnson outlined the timeline of Hunter Biden’s business relationship with CEFC, dating back to December 2015.
In August 2017, Hunter Biden and his Chinese business associates, Ye and Gongwen, established joint ownership in another company named Hudson West III.
Hunter Biden’s business partner Ye, a Chinese national, is the founder of CEFC and has appeared as a frequent figure in the Biden family’s financial dealings with China. Ye also served as chairman of the board for CEFC’s subsidiary, the China Energy Fund Committee.
Grassley and Johnson point out that while CEFC remained a private company until Chinese state-owned enterprises assumed control of it in 2018, news reports in 2017 indicated that the company received financing from the China Development Bank and hired a number of former top officials from state-owned energy companies. The senators also said CEFC had "layers of Communist Party committees across its subsidiaries — more than at many private Chinese companies."
Meanwhile, Hunter Biden’s business partner Gongwen is a business associate of Ye who executed numerous transactions on Ye’s behalf. According to reports, Gongwen formerly served as chief financial officer at Radiance Property Holdings, a firm that allegedly has "deep connections to ‘united front’ groups linked to Chinese intelligence."
"Gongwen served as a manager/officer of Hudson West III, Hudson West IV, and Hudson West V. These are business entities associated with Hunter Biden, which shows the close business and financial relationship between the two of them," Grassley and Johnson wrote.
Hunter Biden created multiple joint-ventures with CEFC through his businesses Hudson West businesses. The ventures, according to Senate investigators, served as funding streams that were never intended for anything other than as ways to "move money." Hunter also had a joint-venture with CEFC called Sinohawk Holdings, which involved his ex-business partner Tony Bobulinski.
An Aug. 2, 2017, agreement signed by Hunter Biden and Gongwen showed that Gongwen’s company, Hudson West V, and Hunter Biden’s company, Owasco P.C., each owned 50% of the interest in Hudson West III.
Then Vice President-elect, Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., left, stands with his son Hunter during a re-enactment of the Senate oath ceremony in the Old Senate Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2009. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
According to the agreement, Hudson West V was responsible for a capital contribution of $5,000,000, and Owasco P.C. was not responsible for making any capital contribution. Grassley and Johnson provided the agreement to Weiss for review.
"According to the terms of the agreement between Hunter Biden’s firm and Hudson III and V, it created another direct connection between Hunter Biden and CEFC," the senators wrote, adding that the agreement established that Hunter Biden would "receive compensation of $100,000 per month and James Biden would receive compensation of $65,000 per month."
Grassley and Johnson note that the agreement "also connects James Biden to CEFC."
The agreement also states that Hunter Biden was paid a "one-time retainer fee of $500,000.00."
"We are providing unredacted copies of all bank records we have acquired relating to Hudson West III, including over a hundred pages that contain previously unreleased material," they wrote.
The senators maintained that the records show that between August 2017 and October 2018, a $5 million wire transfer from Northern International Capital and a $1 million wire from CEFC Limited funded approximately $4.8 million in wire transfers from Hudson West III to Hunter Biden’s companies, Owasco P.C. and Owasco LLC, along with James Biden’s company, the Lion Hall Group.
Northern International Capital is an affiliate of CEFC International incorporated in China.
Grassley and Johnson said records show that between Aug. 14, 2017, and Aug. 3, 2019, Hunter Biden’s company, Owasco P.C., sent 20 wires totaling $1,398,999 to James Biden’s the Lion Hall Group.
The records Grassley and Johnson provided to Weiss also show additional payments after Hunter became a manager from Hudson West III to CEFC Infrastructure Investment totaling $381,033.68; Gongwen totaling $123,319.68; Hunter Biden’s Chinese-American assistant JiaQi Bao totaling $29,795.84; and Coldharbour Capital LLC, a company associated with Hunter Biden’s business partner, Mervyn Yan, totaling $318,286.37.
Hunter Biden holds his son, Beau, and waves to people in the audience during the White House Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington,D.C., on April 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Bao was Hunter’s secretary, a Chinese national who earned her degree at a top Beijing university, and later worked for the communist regime’s National Development and Reform Commission before moving to a China-based investment firm that was also connected to the regime.
Pointing to a document prepared by Hunter Biden’s business associate James Gilliar, CEFC’s corporate mission was "to expand cooperation in the international energy economy and contribute to the national development."
"Indeed, that same record states that CEFC is ‘dedicating itself to serving China’s national energy strategy,’ ‘developing national strategic reserves [for oil],’ and ‘partnering with centrally-administered and state-owned enterprises,’" the senators wrote.
The document, according to Grassley and Johnson, also "makes clear that CEFC was an extension of the communist Chinese government," citing the Gilliar document which states that CEFC was "building an energy storage and logistics system in Europe" to connect China, Europe and the Middle East which would then "[serve] China’s ambitions to have overseas storage locations connected with world markets."
Hunter Biden during the White House Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., on April 18, 2022. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
"CEFC was the perfect vehicle to bring financial benefits to the communist regime under the guise of a private sector company," Grassley and Johnson wrote.
According to records, CEFC began to "establish ties with the Biden family as early as 2016."
Grassley and Johnson noted that Ye and CEFC sought business in the U.S., and said his efforts "were in line with the communist Chinese government’s goal to ‘prioritize economic development’" to drive "Chinese modernization across all areas, including its armed forces."
"Hunter Biden’s position of influence and connections to Chinese business interests, which were further strengthened while his father was vice president, most likely appealed to Ye, a man whom The New York Times has described as ‘[wanting] access to the corridors of power in Washington,’" the senators wrote, also noting that CEFC "donated as much as $100,000 to the Clinton Foundation, presumably as part of that public influence effort."
Meanwhile, after Hunter Biden and Gongwen signed paperwork to establish their partnership in Hudson West III, the two also signed paperwork to open a line of credit shared by Hunter Biden and his aunt and uncle, Sara and James Biden.
"Today, we are providing a credit card authorization form signed by Gongwen Dong and Hunter Biden that was used to finance a global spending spree for Hunter, James and Sara Biden," the senators wrote to Weiss, adding that they are also providing "bank records showing that credit cards were collateralized by a $99,000 pre-authorized withdrawal from Hudson West III dated September 12, 2017."
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"As we noted in our September 23, 2020, report, the Bidens used the credit cards to make purchases from airlines, Apple Stores, hotels, and restaurants," they wrote, adding that the records show the credit card authorization agreement and Hudson West III bank statements showing records of online credit card payments.
"According to bank records, Hudson West III made online credit card payments totaling $101,098.61," they wrote.
Just days after the credit cards were issued, Hunter Biden, in an email obtained by Fox News in 2020, requested that keys be made for his new "office mates," listing his father, now-President Joe Biden, Jill Biden and his uncle, James Biden for space he planned to share with Gongwen at the House of Sweden — a building in Washington, D.C., which contains multiple office suites, as well as a number of embassies.
"Please have keys made available for new office mates: Joe Biden, Jill Biden, Jim Biden," said the email, with the subject "507."
Photo illustration of President Biden and his son Hunter Biden. (Alex Wong/Getty Images | Teresa Kroeger/Getty Images)
In the email, Hunter Biden also requests keys for Gongwen, whom he describes as an "emissary" for Chairman Ye Jianming, the chairman of CEFC Chinese Energy Co.
"I would like the office sign to reflect the following," he wrote, requesting "The Biden Foundation" and "Hudson West (CEFC US)."
President Biden has repeatedly denied any involvement in his son's business dealings and has repeatedly denied having any knowledge about or conversations with him about the ventures.
Meanwhile, Grassley and Johnson also pointed to Hunter Biden’s association with Chi Ping Patrick Ho, a business associate of Ye and Gongwen. Ho was charged and convicted of international bribery and money laundering offenses stemming from his work for the CEFC-backed China Energy Fund Committee.
In March of this year, Grassley and Johnson said they "publicly released bank and wire records showing a November 2, 2017, payment from CEFC Limited to Hudson West III in the amount of $1,000,000 and a March 22, 2018, payment of $1,000,000 from Hudson West III to Hunter Biden’s company, Owasco LLC, for "DR PATRICK HO CHI PING REPRESENTATION."
"Accordingly, after Patrick Ho became associated with criminal activity, Hunter Biden didn’t cease his relationship with him, rather he accelerated it and leveraged the relationship to make money," they wrote to Weiss. "We are including unredacted copies of these records in this production to you."
The senators are demanding answers on whether the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Delaware issued grand jury subpoenas to financial institutions including Wells Fargo, USAA, Bank of America, TD Bank, JPMorgan Chase, PNC, Morgan Stanley, CitiBank, Bank of New York Mellon, Bank of China and First National Bank of Omaha for records relating to Hunter Biden, James Biden, Sara Biden, John Walker, Eric Schwerin, Devon Archer, Tony Bobulinski and corporate entities linked to them, including, but not limited to Hudson West III and the Lion Hall Group.
Grassley and Johnson also demanded answers on whether Weiss feels he has received "sufficient resources and support" from the DOJ to properly conduct the Hunter Biden criminal case and asked whether he had discussed the "need for a special counsel or independent counsel to properly investigate" Hunter Biden.
Further, they reminded Weiss that the FBI obtained Hunter Biden’s laptop in December 2019.
"Did the FBI provide records connected to Hunter Biden’s laptop to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware? If so, on what date was this material provided to your office?" they asked.
Grassley and Johnson gave Weiss a deadline of Nov. 9 — the day after the 2022 midterm elections — to respond their inquiry.
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