Politics

‘Doesn’t look good’: Hunter Biden reportedly raked in $11M from overseas biz deals

Hunter Biden and a company he ran raked in around $11 million from his controversial business dealings while his dad served as vice president and shortly thereafter, according to new scrutiny of the first son.

President Biden’s scandal-scarred son also burned through cash at a rate of more than $200,000 a month from October 2017 through February 2018, spending it on luxury hotel rooms, payments on a Porsche sports car and dental work, as well as making unexplained bank withdrawals, an NBC News report found.

The eye-popping figures emerged from an analysis of information stored on the first son’s laptop — the contents of which were first reported by The Post in 2020 — and documents released by Senate Republicans, the network said.

His river of income flowed from 2013 through 2018 as a result of ties to a Ukrainian natural gas company suspected of bribery and a since-vanished Chinese tycoon accused of bribery and fraud, NBC said.

“This is an enormous amount of money for Hunter Biden, whom I don’t believe is an experienced corporate transactional attorney,” former White House chief ethics lawyer Richard Painter told The Post.

Hunter Biden’s income flowed from 2013 through 2018 as a result of ties to Burisma. Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA

“All I know is I wouldn’t be pulling that kind of money and I’ve been a securities law expert for almost 30 years. There’s no way I’d be pulling down that kind of money.”

Painter, now a University of Minnesota law professor and Democratic candidate for Congress, also said, “If Hunter Biden cared about protecting the family’s reputation, he would disclose everything.”

“The whole thing doesn’t look good,” he added.

CEFC China Energy is accused of bribery and fraud. Yang jin/Imaginechina via AP

NBC’s report came more than 18 months after The Post first revealed emails from the laptop that detailed Hunter Biden’s business dealings with Ukraine’s Burisma Holdings and Ye Jianming, former chairman of the CEFC China Energy conglomerate.

The mainstream media largely ignored The Post’s October 2020 reports or suggested they were the product of Russian disinformation efforts ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

But both the New York Times and the Washington Post recently authenticated for themselves some of the emails amid a federal grand jury probe in Wilmington, Delaware, that’s reportedly focused on possible tax fraud, money laundering and violations of lobbying laws by Hunter Biden.

Hunter Biden’s laptop contained emails detailing business dealings with Ye Jianming, former chairman of the CEFC China Energy conglomerate. China Energy Fund Committee

Congressional Republicans have also vowed to launch investigations next year if they regain control of the House and Senate, with some polls giving the GOP an edge amid surging inflation and President Biden’s low approval ratings.

NBC didn’t detail the sources of the entire $11 million but cited previously reported payments totaling $4.8 million to Owasco PC, a company controlled by Hunter Biden, from a joint venture funded by CEFC and Ye.

The network also cited a previously reported $1 million attorney engagement letter between Hunter Biden and CEFC exec Chi Ping Patrick Ho, who was later sentenced to three years in prison in the US for a pair of bribery schemes involving government officials in Africa.

Joe Biden (second right) and his son, Hunter, (right) pictured golfing in the Hamptons with Devon Archer (left) in a 2014 photo. FOX News/Tucker Carlson Tonight

Hunter Biden’s defense lawyer, Chris Clark, declined to discuss NBC’s analysis on the record, the network said.

The Post has reported that Hunter Biden made as much as $1 million a year by serving on the Burisma board of directors, but that the amount was slashed by 50% in March 2017, two months after his dad stopped serving as vice president.

Critics including Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) have accused Hunter Biden of profiting off his father’s influence.

A federal grand jury probe in Wilmington, Delaware is reportedly focused on possible tax fraud, money laundering and violations of lobbying laws by Hunter Biden. Andy Wong/Pool/EPA

Shortly after The Post first revealed his son’s emails, Joe Biden angrily denied the accusation, calling it “garbage” and “a last-ditch effort in this desperate campaign to smear me and my family.”

“Ron should be ashamed of himself,” he added during an interview with Milwaukee TV station WISN.

Former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence Frank Figliuzzi told NBC that national security can be put at risk when foreign powers like China see an opportunity to get close to someone like Hunter Biden.

President Biden has said that he is “confident that his son didn’t break the law.” Image from Hunter Biden's laptop

“It’s all about access and influence, and if you can compromise someone with both access and influence, that’s even better,” said Figliuzzi, an NBC News contributor who often appears on MSNBC.

“Better still if that target has already compromised himself.”

Walter Shaub, a former director of the US Office of Government Ethics, also told NBC that although government ethics rules don’t apply to Hunter Biden, “it’s imperative that no one at [the Justice Department and no one at the White House interfere with the criminal investigation in Delaware.”

Hunter Biden has denied any wrongdoing and last year told CBS News that he was “being completely cooperative” with the federal investigation in his family’s hometown.

President Biden is also “confident that his son didn’t break the law” and the probe is “something that no one at the White House has involvement in,” White House chief of staff Ron Klain said last month.