Hunter Biden's associate Eric Schwerin says he was 'not aware' of Joe's role in family business deals but says he provided 'unpaid' financial services to the then-VP and interacted with him 'multiple' times

Daily Mail ^ | 1/30/24 | Kelly Laco

[Libloather]

Former Biden associate Eric Schwerin told lawmakers that he was 'not aware' of then-Vice President Joe Biden's role in his son's foreign dealings despite meeting with him 'multiple' times and providing financial advice when he worked with Hunter Biden.

Schwerin, a close business associate of Hunter's at his investment firm Rosemont Seneca, was brought in Tuesday under a subpoena by Republicans leading the impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden.

He specifically faced questions about the then-Vice President's use of pseudonyms to discuss personal and business activities. Schwerin was included on at least 54 direct emails with Joe between 2009 and 2017, say Republicans.

According to Schwerin's opening remarks, he maintained that he was 'not aware of any financial transactions or compensation' Joe Biden received through his family's businesses. He also called Republican allegations otherwise 'preposterous.'

But Republicans say Schwerin's testimony pokes holes into Biden's claim that there has always been an 'absolute wall' between himself and his family's business.

A source told DailyMail.com that Schwerin confirmed he interacted with then-Vice President Biden on 'multiple' occasions and was not paid to provide several professional services - including bookkeeping and tax preparation.

Schwerin was also appointed by Biden to the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, which other top donors and friends sat on.

The source told DailyMail.com that Schwerin's opening statement was 'narrowly tailored' and did not cover the extent of his knowledge in the Biden family's schemes.

In the statement, Schwerin stated that he was 'not aware of any role that Vice President Biden, as a public official or a private citizen, had in any of Hunter’s business activities. None.'

He added that then-VP Biden 'never' asked him to take any 'official actions for the benefit of Hunter’s clients or any other client.'

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Lies stacked upon lies stacked upon lies from here to the moon.

[TigersEye]

I look forward to the NYTs leaking Joe’s tax returns.

[jmaroneps37]

Former Biden associate Eric Schwerin is a liar.

[EVO X]

He added that then-VP Biden 'never' asked him to take any 'official actions for the benefit of Hunter’s clients or any other client.'

How about "unofficial actions"?

[Liz]

foxnews.com—excerpt-—snip

link——AS VP JOE BIDEN WAS IN DIRECT CONTACT WITH
HUNTER’S BUSINESS PARTNERS USING SEVERAL EMAIL ALIASES

“When Eric Schwerin makes carefully constructed statements about Hunter Biden’s financial transactions, during today’s House interview, he admitted he had no insight into the payments from Chinese, Russian, Ukrainian, Kazakhstani, and Romanian entities and individuals,” a business source connected to Hunter Biden told Fox News Digital.

Schwerin’s testimony comes after Fox News Digital first reported that Joe Biden, as vice president, used email aliases and private email addresses to communicate with Hunter Biden and his business associates hundreds of times – including with Schwerin. The communications came between 2010 to 2019, with the majority of email traffic taking place while Biden was serving as vice president.

---

The House Ways & Means Committee, which is co-leading the impeachment inquiry alongside the Oversight and Judiciary Committees, said 54 of those emails were “exclusively” between Joe Biden and Schwerin. The Ways & Means Committee describes Schwerin as “the architect of the Biden family’s shell companies.” Meanwhile, the data shows direct emails between Schwerin and then-Vice President Biden increased during times when the vice president traveled to Ukraine.

link-—OVERSIGHT DEMS ADMIT HUNTER’S LONGTIME BUSINESS PARTNER HANDLED BIDEN’S FINANCES THROUGHOUT VP TENURE

The committee said the data shows Joe Biden and Schwerin exchanged five emails in June 2014 before the vice president’s trip to Ukraine that month. After that trip and before Biden’s November 2014 trip back to Ukraine, he and Schwerin emailed 27 times.Hunter Biden joined the board of Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings in April 2014.

Biden has acknowledged that when he was vice president he successfully pressured Ukraine to fire Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin. At the time, Shokin was investigating Burisma Holdings. During the same period, Hunter Biden held a highly lucrative role on the board, receiving thousands of dollars per month.

At the time, the vice president was caught on tape threatening to withhold $1 billion of critical U.S. foreign aid if Shokin was not fired. Biden allies maintain the vice president pushed for Shokin’s firing due to concerns the Ukrainian prosecutor went easy on corruption and say his firing was the policy position of the U.S. and international community.

---

Brooke Singman is a political correspondent and reporter for Fox News Digital, Fox News Channel and FOX Business.

[Liz]

timemagazine.com

snip

<><>Obama tasked VP Biden’s with official duties in specific countries
<><>Hunter was given the official VP schedule where influence-peddling deals were pending
<><>Email in 2016 was sent to Hunter Biden detailing Joe Biden’s VP schedule
<><>Including VP Biden telling Hunter he was meeting with Ukraine’s president
<><>Hunter was then a highly-paid board member of Ukraine’s Burisma Holdings

Comer, the House Oversight Committee Chairman, has zeroed in on an email dated May 27, 2016, that contains Biden’s schedule for that day. The email was sent by a White House aide to both Biden’s Robert L. Peters email with the pri.gov domain and to Hunter Biden. Comer has said the email raises concerns that Biden was telling his son about a meeting he was having with Ukraine’s president that could be related to Hunter Biden’s role on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings. “We also know that Hunter Biden and his associates were informed of then-Vice President Biden’s official government duties in countries where they had a financial interest,” said Comer in his Aug. 17 letter to the head of the National Archives.

Biden’s vice presidential schedule that day includes a phone call with Ukraine’s president at the time, Petro Poroshenko. The call with Poroshenko was described publicly by the White House at the time as discussing the release of a Ukrainian pilot who had been held in Russia.

But the schedule also includes information about Biden’s plans to return to his lake-front home in Wilmington, at a time when the Biden family was planning to gather together around the one-year anniversary of the death of Biden’s other son, Beau Biden.

Joe Biden has repeatedly said that he wasn’t involved in his son’s business dealings. Comer and fellow Republicans in Congress are looking for evidence that’s not true, particularly during the years Biden was vice president.

One of Hunter Biden’s business associates, Devon Archer, testified before Comer’s committee in July that Hunter Biden had been selling the “illusion” of access and profiting off the Biden name brand. Comer has still not produced evidence that Joe Biden himself was part of that effort.

[Liz]

oversight.com
Press Release
Published: Jul 18, 2023

Oversight Committee Releases Biden Family Influence Peddling Timeline

WASHINGTON—The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability today released a timeline of the Biden family’s influence peddling schemes. The timeline includes significant dates beginning in the Obama-Biden Administration, including when then-Vice President Biden traveled to Ukraine, Romania, and China on official business and Biden family influence peddling schemes in those countries.

President Biden has repeatedly denied knowing anything about his family’s business dealings despite evidence to the contrary. The timeline contains important dates as to when Joe Biden knew and lied to the American people about his family’s business schemes.

Below are some key findings of the investigation into the Biden family’s influence peddling schemes:

<><>The Complicated Web of Biden Family and Associates’ Companies: Biden family members and business associates created a web of over 20 companies—most were limited liability companies formed after Joe Biden became Vice President.

<><>The Biden Family Received Millions of Dollars from Foreign Sources: Bank records so far show the Biden family, their business associates, and their companies received over $10 million from foreign nationals’ and their related companies.

<><>The Committee has identified payments to Biden family members from foreign companies while he served as Vice President and after he left public office.

<><>The Biden Family Used Business Associates’ Companies to Receive Foreign Funds: Despite creating many companies after Vice President Biden took office, the Biden family used business associates’ companies to receive millions of dollars from foreign companies.

<><>Attempts to Conceal Large Financial Transactions: After foreign companies sent money to business associates’ companies, the Biden family received incremental payments over time to different bank accounts. These complicated financial transactions appear to be meant to conceal the source of the funds and reduce the conspicuousness of the total amounts made into the Biden bank accounts.

<><>CCP-Linked Chinese Nationals Hid the Source of the Money:CCP-linkedChinese nationals and companies with significant ties to Chinese intelligence and the Chinese Communist Party hid the source of the funds paid out to the Bidens by layering domestic limited liability companies.

The Biden family and associates’ activities in coordination with Chinese nationals and their corporate entities appear to be an attempt to engage in financial deception. Multiple Biden family members received money from the Chinese after it passed through an associate’s account. Additionally, Hunter Biden received money directly into his company’s account from a Chinese-controlled entity.

<><>Biden Family and Associates’ Activities in Romania Indicate Influence Peddling Scheme: The Biden family and associates’ activities in Romania bear clear indicia of a scheme to peddle influence from 2015 to 2017. While Vice President Biden lectured Romania on corruption and ethics, the Bidens received over a million dollars from a company controlled by a Romanian individual accused of corruption, Gabriel Popoviciu, through a Biden family associate.

<><>FBI’s Biden Bribery Record Mirrors Evidence Obtained by the Oversight Committee: The Oversight Committee has reviewed the FBI’s unclassified FD-1023 form that memorialized a trusted confidential human source’s conversations with a Burisma executive who claims Joe Biden demanded $5 million and then was paid in exchange for certain actions.

<><>The Burisma executive stated that he did not pay “the big guy” directly but used so many bank accounts to hide the money. It is unclear what, if anything, the FBI has done to verify the allegations contained within this record.

[Liz]

oversight.com

snip

After viewing financial records at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Committee identified nine family members who have benefited from the Biden family’s business.

“We found 170 major bank violations. These were from six major banks, and they alleged that the Bidens were, among other things, money laundering, and receiving suspicious wires from state-owned entities. […]

The bank is alleging that the Bidens took a suspicious wire from the Chinese government, and then laundered it through these shell companies. Many laws were broken there.”

“We also learned nine Biden family members have received money from foreign entities, including the President’s granddaughter, who received a wire that had been laundered to the shell companies from Romania days after the President left Romania when he was Vice President. That’s hard to explain.

“The Bidens received over 20 million dollars. My question to you: What did they do to receive that money? No one can answer that question.”

READ MORE: Comer: Treasury Department Caves, Provides Access to Biden Family & Their Associates’ SARs

The Committee gained access to an FD-1023 form alleging then-Vice President Biden and Hunter Biden received $5 million as part of a bribery scheme. The form was not shared with tax investigators.

“We also found an FD-1023 – an FBI form alleging Joe Biden took a bribe. What we learned from this is the FBI never investigated this allegation.”

LINKS

READ MORE: Comer’s Fox News Op-ed: Did Joe Biden sell out America?

“We also discovered that Joe Biden has used at least three pseudonyms on over five thousand emails.”

[…]

“We also have testimony from Devon Archer saying that at that same time period Joe Biden went to Ukraine to fire the prosecutor, Hunter was being squeezed by the owners of Burisma to call DC for help.

“This is all in a timeline here. This is why Speaker McCarthy launched the impeachment inquiry.”

READ MORE: Comer Releases Devon Archer’s Transcribed Interview Transcript

CLICK HERE to watch the full stakeout.

READ MORE: Comer, Jordan, Smith Statement on Speaker McCarthy Opening an Impeachment Inquiry into President Biden

[ClearCase_guy]

They used to say — “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire”. Or, if things look odd, maybe you should investigate.

Today (for Democrats) they say — “Why should we start an investigation? You haven’t proven that they’re guilty, so I see no point in looking into any of this.”

[Carriage Hill]

Better bring a lunch; it might be a while.

[Liz]

And the usual.....Comer has found nothing on Biden.

[Liz]

Survey: One in Five Democrats Disapprove of Joe Biden’s Job Performance
Breitbart ^ | 01/30/2024 | HANNAH BLEAU KNUDSEN
Posted on 1/30/2024, 3:23:11 PM by ChicagoConservative27

One in five Democrats disapprove of President Joe Biden’s job performance, a recent Harvard/Harris survey found.

Overall, the survey showed that Biden’s approval remains low, at 42 percent. Of those, just 20 percent “strongly approve” of him. Most, 57 percent, disapprove of his job performance. His ratings are even worse among independent voters, as 62 percent disapprove of him compared to 35 percent who approve.

Further, one in five — 22 percent — of Democrats disapprove of Biden’s job performance.

(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...

[bert]

Hunter received the money into corporation H4. H4 paid the consulting invoice from BG 78. BG 78 paid the accounting fee to corporation BG 12. BG 12 in turn paid corporation B4 for consulting service. (BG= Big Guy)

All these corporations are located off shore.

Jill Biden has a Master Card issued by the off shore bank that maintains the deposits for corporation B4. The monthly Master Card statement for B4 is automatically paid from the B4 account.

Biden has no business contact with Hunter

[Liz]

Great deconstruction......of course they cant find traces
of Biden’s involvement, Biden’s got his tracks covered.

[nuconvert]

“Schwerin confirmed he interacted with then-Vice President Biden on ‘multiple’ occasions and was not paid to provide several professional services - including bookkeeping and tax preparation.”

I don’t believe for a second that he did accounting services for nothing.

[EVO X]

I don’t believe for a second that he did accounting services for nothing.

Good point. If he did provide free services to Biden while VP, Biden may have violated gift rules if there was any significant work done for him.

[Political Junkie Too]

These are just a few examples that we know of about how Hunter Biden was laundering the money to Joe Biden, by paying all of Joe's bills.

From the UK Daily Mail (July 5, 2021): Hunter Biden paid Joe's AT&T bill and spent thousands on house repairs for him while he was Vice President, new laptop emails claim

---

In an email to Hunter from Eric Shwerin, his partner at Rosemont Seneca, Shwerin talks about the bills they needed to pay for Joe

---

Text from Hunter Biden to daughter Naomi in 2019.

---

In other texts to his personal assistant, he said his father had been using lines of credit on his account

---

Rosemont Seneca was set up by Hunter Biden and Chris Heinz as a front for peddling the Biden and Kerry brands. Rosemont Seneca was positioned as a private equity investment hedge fund that was initially seeded with money from the Heinz family alternative investment fund, Rosemont Capital.

Hunter Biden then went to China and landed deals with the Chinese government through various Chinese shell companies, eventually connecting with Jonathan Li of BHR Partners (Shanghai) Equity Investment Fund Management Co., Ltd (aka BHR), which is controlled by Bank of China Limited whose focus is on mergers and acquisitions, and investments in Chinese state-owned enterprises.

Rosemont Seneca then acquired a 10% stake in BHR Partners, and Hunter Biden was given a position on the Board of Directors of BHR Partners.

Devon Archer was a close friend of both Hunter Biden and Chris Heinz. Archer was made the Managing Director of Rosemont Seneca. During Devin Archer's testimony before Congress, he laid out the timeline for when Joe Biden was on telephone calls with Hunter Biden's clients:

According to the transcript released by the House:

The first reference in the transcript of Devon Archer puts the first phone call sometime in 2011. Rosemont Seneca was the basis for the call.

---

3 BY MR. MANDOLFO:
4 Q Are you aware of Hunter Biden putting his -- or have been told that Hunter
5 Biden put his father on speakerphone during any of these interactions that you're just
6 describing now?
7 A Yes.
8 Q Can you please tell us about that?
9 A He put him on speakerphone, again, occasionally. Specifics, like, you know,
10 dinner -- you know, dinners occasionally.
11 Q Can you tell us about those dinners?
12 A Yeah. I remember a dinner in Paris with a French energy company that
13 was -- we were speaking to an advisor, and then -- we were speaking to. And it was
14 really a Rosemont Seneca Advisors type of -- a Rosemont Seneca Advisors kind of a pitch,
15 at the end of the day. And there was a talk, and he said that we're at this -- you know,
16 we're at this restaurant in Paris, and he put him on the speaker. So that did happen.
17 There were other people there.
18 Q Who else was there?
19 A There was me, myself; Hunter; Eric Schwerin; and then the executives from
20 the French energy company.
21 Q Do you remember the name of that company?
22 A I'm sure you could find it. It was probably, like, a 2011, you know, trip
23 planning. But it was a very large French energy company.

---

The next reference by Devon Archer places another phone call during Biden's trip to China in December, 2013. This call references Jonathan Li and BHR Partners.

---

2 Q Do you recall other times where Hunter Biden placed his dad on
3 speakerphone?
4 A In you know, a dinner -- a dinner in -- with BHR, with Jonathan Li.
5 Q Where was that dinner?
6 A In Beijing, at, you know, some restaurant -- or Chengdu or something like
7 that. I don't remember the -- I don't remember specifics. This was just -- it was
8 not -- it was like a, you know -- especially with the time zone difference, there was -- you
9 know, there were meetings where his dad would call and he would be talking to him or
10 put him on speaker. I'm not going to -- you know, that's -- that happened.

---

5 Q One of the phone calls that you discussed with Vice President Biden on was
6 with an individual by the name of Jonathan Li.
7 A Yes.
8 Q Who is Jonathan Li?
9 A He is the CEO of BHR.
10 Q When was that phone call?
11 A That I don't recall. Just --
12 Q Do you remember the year?
13 A I don't. It would be before, you know, spring of '16 and after spring of
14 2013.

---

As you can see from Archer's testimony, 1) Eric Schwerin (who paid Hunter's bills for Joe) was present at the earliest Rosemont Seneca restaurant meetings where Joe Biden phoned in; 2) Joe Biden called into the restaurant meeting with Jonathan Li that eventually led to Hunter Biden's position on BHR's Board of Directors.

What should be clear by now is that ANY money that was paid to Hunter Biden via Rosemont Seneca was Chinese money passed through BHR Partners into Rosemont Seneca and then to Hunter Biden and Chris Heinz. Joe Biden was present (virtually) at the initial BHR meeting with Jonathan Li.

Here is another story on Biden, Heinz, and Rosemont Seneca from the New York Post from 2018: Inside the shady private equity firm run by Kerry and Biden’s kids.

-PJ

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[Liz]

thefederalist.com
By TRISTAN JUSTICE
VISIT ON TWITTER

Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, is the subject of a Wednesday complaint filed with the D.C. Bar alleging professional misconduct. America First Legal (AFL) alleges the president’s son “engaged in professional misconduct, repeatedly and on a significant scale” against D.C. Bar rules, “raising substantial questions as to his honesty, trustworthiness, and fitness as a lawyer.” The conservative legal non-profit demanded an investigation over violations of Rule 8.4 under the D.C. Bar’s professional handbook for attorneys in the District.

That rule prohibits lawyers from engaging in crimes, “dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation,” “seriously interfer[ing] with the administration of justice,” “Stat[ing] or imply[ing] an ability to influence improperly a government agency or official,” and more.

“There is substantial evidence suggesting that Mr. Biden has engaged in professional misconduct contrary to Rule 8.4.,” said Reed Rubinstein, AFL’s senior counselor and director for oversight and investigations. “Public faith in the integrity of the Bar demands that the Rules of Professional Conduct be applied consistently fairly — there must be one standard for all bar members, regardless of a lawyer’s particular political affiliation or family connections.”

The complaint by America First Legal cites Hunter Biden’s recent felony firearm charges in Delaware and his failure to register as a foreign agent while working to influence U.S. officials for a Ukrainian energy company. While Hunter Biden’s father was serving as the Obama administration’s point man on Ukraine, the Ukrainian energy firm Burisma showered the vice president’s son with hugely excessive compensation.

Records from lawmakers on Capitol Hill uncovered show Burisma was central to the Biden family’s documented influence-peddling schemes, with the Biden family reportedly taking bribes from the firm’s Ukrainian executives in exchange for political favors. An unclassified FD-1023 form released last summer suggests the Biden family accepted a $10 million bribe from Burisma founder Mykola Zlochevsky, leading lawmakers to demand more records from the FBI.

[Link——READ: Evidence Of Biden Burisma Corruption Is Overwhelming]

In December, Hunter Biden faced nine additional charges from Special Counsel David Weiss. The charges, filed in California, include three felonies and six misdemeanors, all related to tax crimes. Not one included a charge related to Hunter Biden’s failure to register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). According to Wednesday’s complaint by America First Legal, “Burisma is a ‘foreign principal’ under FARA,” and “as an officer, Hunter Biden acted ‘at the order, request, or under the direction or control, of a foreign principal.’”

The conservative legal group outlined documents showing Hunter Biden advised his father’s office on how to respond to questions from the press over the family connection to Burisma. “Hunter Biden, while employed at Burisma, represented Burisma in a public relations matter relating to the public interests and relations of Burisma by advising the Office of the Vice President about responding to press inquiries concerning his appointment at Burisma,” the complaint reads.

Earlier this month, Hunter Biden agreed to testify in a closed-door interview with House lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Hunter Biden is expected to appear before the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees on Feb. 28. The Oversight Committee announced Wednesday that Joe Biden’s brother, James, will testify in their corruption probe of the president on Feb. 21.

---

Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist and the author of Social Justice Redux, a conservative newsletter on culture, health, and wellness. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News.