Former Obama-Biden administration aide Francis “Fran” Person visited the Obama White House at least seven times after leaving the administration and joining a Chinese Communist Party-linked firm, according to a report.
Person, according to the report from Fox News Digital, served in the Obama-Biden administration from 2009 through 2014 and was close to the Biden family, traveling with Biden on 49 of 50 trips during his time there.
Then-Vice President Joe Biden called Person his “go to” guy, and First Lady Jill Biden called him “like a son to me” and said he would “always be a part of our family,” according to a Politico piece on Person leaving the White House in 2014.
After leaving the White House in 2014, Person worked for six months in a “special advisory role” at his alma mater of University of South Carolina before joining a firm in 2015 called Harves Group, run by a man named Bo Zhang, whose parents own Harves Group and whose father-in-law is a top Chinese official.
Then-Vice President Joe Biden is briefed by Fran Person in the White House. (White House)
Before Person left the White House, his sister Anne Marie Muldoon (Person) — who worked for Hunter Biden’s firm Rosemont Seneca — joined Biden’s office in May 2014, according to the report.
After Person left and joined Harves Group, he would go back and visit the White House at least seven times — meeting with his sister at least four times and Biden’s then chief-of-staff Steve Ricchetti at least once. Ricchetti is currently serving in the White House as Biden’s White House counselor. Person also brought Zhang to the White House for a holiday reception in 2015.
Also, in 2015, Person introduced Zhang to Hunter Biden, whose firm Rosemont Seneca would later invest in multiple Harves affiliates.
In emails published by Fox Business, Person, on July 28, 2015, emailed Hunter Biden inviting him and his family on a trip to China that would be paid for by Zhang and his family.
Person boasted about Zhang’s family, writing, “they are a great family with great respect and relationships in China.” He told Hunter Biden that Zhang’s parents owned Harves Century Group of Shenyang and that they are very private and “wouldn’t tell anyone about you coming.” Person added that Zhang’s father-in-law “is actually the Governor of Hainan (Chinese Hawaii)” Liu Cigui. Liu is considered a “loyalist” of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Fox Business noted.
“It would be an opportunity for you to see the scope of what Harves does — its [sic] amazing,” Person wrote Hunter Biden.
Person wrote, “I’d like for you to get to know Bo. He’s a brilliant guy — he’s been groomed to take over his family’s dynasty, but he’s very humble. … He and his wife live in DC, and are expecting a child, He is building a huge house in McLean, and plans on working and living in the US.” Person added that it is an “extended invitation.” “We can do this anytime,” he added.
There is no evidence that Hunter Biden went on the trip, but multiple emails reviewed by Fox Business showed that Person and Zhang had met with Hunter and his business partner Eric Schwerin in Washington, D.C., on numerous occasions, according to the report.
Hunter Biden during the White House Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House, Monday, April 18, 2022, in Washington, DC. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
About a year after Person invited Hunter Biden on the trip, Biden wrote a man named Henry Zhao on May 6, 2016, telling him Zhang was “a good friend and business colleague.” Biden suggested a meeting in Beijing between Zhao and Zhang and the “chairwoman” of Harves Century Group, which was Zhang’s mother.
It appears Zhao was affiliated with Harvest Fund Management, which partnered with Hunter Biden to found Bohai Harvest RST.
Another year later, in another email sent on March 15, 2017, Biden’s business partner Eric Schwerin emailed Hunter a summary of the equity Rosemont Seneca Advisors owned in Harves Group. The email said:
Rosemont Seneca Advisors (Owasco, LLC owns 75%) holds equity in:
Harves Group: 5% in Harves Amusement Parks, initially 6 Parks to be opened in China in a JV with China Development Bank and Parques Reunidos, one of the largest amusement park companies in the world. Also includes Ownership in Harves Sports and Entertainment which has signed an LOI to partner with Kobe Bryant on a series of academies in China.
Copied on the email is James Bulger, the nephew of Boston crime boss Whitey Bulger. James Bulger reportedly played an influential role in Hunter Biden’s Chinese business ventures, including helping to get Biden a Chinese business license for his uncle’s telemedicine company.
Harves Group is backed by the Chinese state-owned China Development Bank and is the parent company of multiple U.S.-based Harves affiliates, including Harves Investment Group (HIG), Harves Sports, and Harves Global Entertainment, according to the report. Person is now the CEO of Harves Global Entertainment, as well as the CEO and co-founder of DreamCube Innovations, a company that has signed deals with the NBA and the Manchester United soccer club that is set up “across China.”
Person told Fox News Digital on Thursday evening in response to an inquiry that his White House visits “were personal in nature, visiting with old colleagues and friends whom I served with during my six years working there, and completely unrelated to my work with Harves Entertainment which was creating experiences and attraction with iconic brands across the sports and entertainment industry.”
Person reportedly did not address whether he or Zhang ever communicated with Obama-Biden administration officials outside of the White House to discuss Harves-related business deals or whether he or Hunter Biden ever introduced Zhang to Biden.
US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden walk on the South Lawn at the White House in Washington, DC on July 18, 2021. Jill said of Frances that he would “always be a part of our family” in 2014. (Andrew Caballero-Renyolds/AFP via Getty Images)
A White House official deflected in a response to Fox News Digital in regards to Person’s visits to the White House: “These are all meetings that have been public for years because both the Obama-Biden Administration and this nadinistraitoin released visitor records for the sake of transparency — a practice discontinued during the Trump years.”
Fox News Digital also reported that Hunter Biden also worked behind the scenes to send email pitches to raise money for Person’s unsuccessful congressional campaign in 2016. Person received $2,700 each from Schwerin and Biden, and $1,000 from then-Second Lady Jill Biden. Zhang and his mother, Jinglan Zhao, also both maxed out to Person’s campaign with two $2,700 donations each, according to the report.
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