President Joe Biden’s son Hunter reportedly continues to hold a stake in a Chinese private equity firm despite his father’s campaign promise that, if elected, his family would divest its foreign business interests.
According to a review of business records conducted by the Daily Caller, Hunter’s company, Skaneateles LLC, holds a 10 percent stake in the Bohai Harvest RST Equity Investment Fund Management Co. (BHR Partners), the Chinese private equity firm.
The state-controlled Bank of China co-owns BHR Partners. Hunter Biden is the sole beneficial owner of Skaneateles LLC that holds his 10 percent stake.
In October 2019, then-presidential candidate Joe Biden vowed that, if elected, nobody in his family would have any business ties with any foreign corporation or nation, a contrast to the Trump Organizations worldwide presence.
Joe Biden told reporters in Iowa:
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. Period. Period. End of story.
More than 100 days into his presidency, Joe Biden has failed to keep that campaign promise.
Joe Biden did alter his pledge in regards to his family’s foreign business dealings once he was elected president, saying in December that nobody in his family would “be involved in any business, any enterprise, that is conflicted with or appears to be in conflict, with the appropriate distance from, the presidency and government.”
Joe Biden made the 2019 promise only hours after his son announced that he would step down from the board of BHR Partners and vowed not to engage in foreign business dealings if voters elected his father president.
Hunter Biden reportedly stepped down over intensified scrutiny of his father’s bid for the Democrat party’s presidential nomination.
At the time, Hunter Biden’s lawyer said:
Under a Biden Administration, Hunter will readily comply with any and all guidelines or standards a President Biden may issue to address purported conflicts of interest or the appearance of such conflicts, including any restrictions related to overseas business interests.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki conceded in February that Hunter Biden was still an investor in BHR but claimed that he was selling his shares.
“He has been working to unwind his investment, but I would certainly point you — he’s a private citizen — I would point you to him or his lawyers on the outside on any update,” Psaki declared under questioning from the New York Post.
It appears Hunter Biden has not been working hard enough to divest his interest in BHR.
The Daily Caller reported:
[BHR] manages the equivalent of $2.1 billion in assets, according to its website. Hunter Biden acquired his 10% stake in the firm with a $420,000 investment in October 2017, according to a statement released by his lawyer in October 2019. BHR’s business file was last updated on July 28, 2020, the records show.
It is unclear if the First Son expects to profit from his investment in BHR after he completes his divestment.
“However, emails located on a copy of Hunter Biden’s alleged laptop show that he was told on multiple occasions by his business partner Eric Schwerin that he could expect to receive significant payments from BHR beginning in 2019,” the Daily Caller noted.
Hunter Biden revealed in December 2020 that the federal government was investigating his overseas business dealings, described as shady by Republicans and other critics.