Hunter Biden swears no more corruption if Dad wins
News broke yesterday morning that Hunter Biden has officially stepped down from the board of directors of a Chinese-backed private equity company. Additionally, he made a public promise that if his father, Joe Biden, wins the presidency, he will "forego all foreign work."
Quite a lot to unpack here. Firstly, he's missing the point entirely. While President Trump's Ukraine phone call shined a bright light on Joe and Hunter Biden's corruption, the outrage was never about him working for a foreign company. It was about how he got those positions in the first place — with his father's power and status in the U.S. government. Questions were raised about what was promised in return for giving the former vice president's drug-addicted child an extremely lucrative career with virtually no experience. Next, stepping down only brings more attention to the scandal. Most voters probably didn't even know that Hunter Biden was still on the board of the Chinese firm. Rookie mistake, as it also implies guilt. If Hunter really did nothing wrong, as was previously claimed, why would he feel the need to remove himself from those job positions?
The Bloomberg article states:
After months of keeping a relatively low-profile as President Donald Trump leveled a barrage of unsubstantiated accusations of corruption at him, the younger Biden is publicly vowing to avoid any conflict of interest.
If Trump's accusations were truly "unsubstantiated," why would Hunter Biden feel the need to throw away a multi-million-dollar job? Further, why would he toss the job knowing that his father has a slim (if any) chance of actually winning in 2020? Missing from the Biden reportage is whether or not he was offered some compensation or awarded a package deal on his departure.
According to a recent archived webpage of this private equity firm, Rosemont Seneca, the Chinese company is engaged in quite a bit of U.S. property management. Its site boasts of managing 14.5 million square feet of office space. Basically, Hunter Biden was acting as a front for Chinese actors to artificially inflate the price of office space in America, driving down the profits for actual U.S. small businesses.
The Rosemont Seneca Advisors page also highlights its unique relationships as an asset for its clients:
Our focus is helping our clients find innovative opportunities for growth through expansion of market share, access to new markets, increased revenue opportunities or brand development. Our knowledge, experience and relationships make us uniquely poised to work hand in hand with our partners and clients to find new ways to pursue growth.
Hunter Biden is claiming that if his father wins the presidency, he promises not to engage in enterprise with any foreign companies. In layman's terms, if you elect Sleepy Joe, then Hunter promises no more corruption! Note, however, that he had no issue doing just that when his father was a senator and also the vice president for eight years.
Hunter Biden should also return all the monies given to him from the same foreign interests if he really wants to appear the good guy, but that may not be possible. A safe assumption is, as his ex-wife has told the press is the norm, that most went up his nose or into the pockets of his love interests.
Thanks to Democrats making a scandal out of President Trump's interest in Joe and his son's foreign corruption, they will now be forced to find more creative ways to make and take their bribes.
Unclear if Hunter Biden Will Keep Stake in Chinese-Backed Equity Firm After Resignation
Unclear if Hunter Biden Will Keep Stake in Chinese-Backed Equity Firm After Resignation
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It is unclear if Hunter Biden will keep his stake, which is estimated to be worth millions, in a private equity firm bankrolled by the Chinese government after opting to resign from its board of directors.
The younger Biden, who has a history of profiting off deals with foreign governments that are inaccessible to average American businessmen, announced on Sunday he would resign from the board of Bohai Harvest RST (BHR) at the end of this month. The move comes amid mounting scrutiny of not only Hunter Biden, but the company itself.
As Peter Schweizer, senior contributor at Breitbart News, revealed in his bestselling book — Secret Empires: How the American Political Class Hides Corruption and Enriches Family and Friends — Hunter Biden inked the multibillion dollar deal that created BHR with a subsidiary of the state-owned Bank of China in 2013. The deal, which was the first of its kind, created BHR as a private equity fund to invest Chinese money overseas.
The timing of the lucrative deal has been brought into question as it came only 12 days after Hunter visited China with his father aboard Air Force Two. Officially, the then-vice president was visiting the country amid escalating tensions over islands in the South China Sea and decided to bring his granddaughter and son along. In a March 2018 interview with Breitbart News Tonight, however, Schweizer detailed the political machinations that preceded Hunter Biden’s $1.5 billion venture with China:
“In December of 2013, Vice President Joe Biden flies to Asia for a trip, and the centerpiece for that trip is a visit to Beijing, China. To put this into context, in 2013, the Chinese have just exerted air rights over the South Pacific, the South China Sea. They basically have said, ‘If you want to fly in this area, you have to get Chinese approval. We are claiming sovereignty over this territory.’ Highly controversial in Japan, in the Philippines, and in other countries. Joe Biden is supposed to be going there to confront the Chinese. Well, he gets widely criticized on that trip for going soft on China. For basically not challenging them, and Japan and other countries are quite upset about this.”
Since its creation, BHR has invested heavily in energy and defense projects across the globe. The younger Biden, who owns a ten percent stake in the company, has claimed to not have received any “compensation” from BHR.
“Hunter has not received any compensation for being on BHR’s board of directors. He has not received any return on his investment; there have been no distributions to BHR shareholders since Hunter obtained his equity interest,” read a statement released by the Biden family lawyer on Sunday announcing Hunter’s decision to resign from BHR’s board.
It is unclear, however, if Hunter will keep his equity in BHR after he departs its board of directors. Representatives for the Biden family have claimed his ten percent stake is only worth $420,000. Ethics watchdogs, though, estimate the true value to be worth millions.
“It is difficult to imagine, if not incomprehensible, that a 10% stake in those economics is worth only $420K,” Steven Kaplan of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business told FactCheck.org. “The distinction they appear to be making is they capitalized the management company with $4.2 M even if the fund manages $2 B. The value of that management company is likely far in excess of $4.2 M if they are managing $2 B.”
The statement released on Sunday by the Biden family made no mention of what would happen with Hunter’s ownership stake.
In recent weeks, BHR, has struggled to explain its ties to Hunter Biden. The company has “repeatedly declined to elaborate on the younger Biden’s role at the firm” via phone, email, and “visits to the office,” according to the South China Morning Post. Although BHR promised earlier this month that it was weighing how to explain its relationship with Hunter Biden, the company has since gone silent.
Expert: Hunter Biden Likely Still Has Millions in China-Backed Investment Fund
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Former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden announced Sunday that he was stepping down from his board position at BHR Equity Investment Fund Management, but he likely still has millions of dollars of value in the company.
Hunter Biden has a 10 percent stake in BHR, which he acquired through a company he created named Skaneateles LLC in 2017.
Although Hunter Biden’s lawyer has said that his client’s stake in the company is only valued at $420,000, a FactCheck.org analysis estimates it’s value to be millions.
“It is difficult to imagine, if not incomprehensible, that a 10% stake in those economics is worth only $420K,” Steven Kaplan of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business told FactCheck.org. “The distinction they appear to be making is they capitalized the management company with $4.2 M even if the fund manages $2 B. The value of that management company is likely far in excess of $4.2 M if they are managing $2 B.”
FactCheck.org cited Kaplan estimating that Hunter Biden’s share in the investment company could be valued at around $20 million and up to “hundreds of millions of dollars” over the investment lifetime.
Hunter Biden’s lawyer said that if Joe Biden won the race for president, he would agree “not to serve on boards of, or work on behalf of, foreign-owned companies,” but did not mention his current foreign investments in BHR.
President Donald Trump continues to target Hunter Biden’s foreign investments as corrupt, questioning Vice President Joe Biden’s knowledge of his son capitalizing on his father’s specific diplomacy with China and Ukraine on behalf of former President Barack Obama’s administration.
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