by Seamus Bruner and John Solomon at Just the News
With his father’s eight-year tenure as Barack Obama’s vice president waning, Hunter Biden received a remarkable overture in 2015: One of China’s richest businessmen wanted to make a sizable donation to the World Food Program USA (WFP USA), which was led by the VP’s son.
WFP USA is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to raising funds and building U.S. support for the World Food Program, the United Nations organization that fights global hunger.
But soon, memos gathered by the FBI show, the charitable discussions evolved into an expanding relationship between Hunter Biden and Chinese energy giant CEFC to include business deals that would eventually reap the Biden family millions of dollars.
“CEFC China is very interested in exploring humanitarian initiatives of mutual interest to the World Food Program USA and discussing investment opportunities with Burnham,” an email received and then forwarded by Hunter Biden in October 2015 stated. Burnham was one of the many firms through which Hunter Biden and his partners like Devon Archer scored large investments.
The story of CEFC’s dual pitch for charity and business opportunities is documented in emails and memos stored on the notorious laptop Hunter Biden abandoned at a Delaware computer repair shop. The device was eventually turned over in December 2019 to the FBI, which is leading an investigation into the taxes, finances and foreign business dealings of the president’s son.
The FBI’s former intelligence chief said the Chinese overture to Hunter Biden fits the classic pattern of a foreign influence operation, much like was seen with Democratic congressman Eric Swalwell a few years ago.
“First, you have to understand that China does not donate to American led charities because they are altruistic,” explained former FBI Assistant Director for Intelligence Kevin Brock. “And Chinese intelligence operatives like Christine Fang don’t cozy up to Rep. Eric Swalwell because he’s a fun guy to be around. Chinese intelligence does what it does in order to steal information and influence American policy makers.”
“Things like offers for all expense paid trips to Beijing and inordinate amounts of money in exchange for ill-defined things like consulting services or academic papers are hallmarks of CCP intelligence operations,” Brock added. “Their methods are subtle and patient, they aim to dirty your hands and make it difficult break free over time. We don’t know if Hunter Biden provided information useful to the CCP or even if he registered as a foreign agent as required by law. The FBI hopefully will determine that. But it looks clearer every day that he was targeted by Chinese intelligence and it’s not illogical to presume they did so because of his access to high-ranking U.S. officials.”
The pattern of Hunter Biden mixing charity with private business was repeated several times during his tenure as chairman of the World Food Program USA, the documents show.
For instance, Hunter Biden would connect his Burisma Holdings colleagues in Ukraine to the food charity. And his father spoke at the charity’s events while also attending a dinner that merged Hunter Biden’s business clients and charity colleagues.
Hunter Biden served on the WFP USA board from 2011 until 2017 and was chairman from 2011 to 2015, according to the nonprofit’s annual reports. During that time, he leveraged his connections to the U.N.-affiliated organization and to his father, the vice president (who headlined multiple WFP USA events), to enhance his business relationships with Russian, Ukrainian, and Chinese oligarchs.
WFP USA did not immediately return requests for comment. Hunter Biden’s lawyer, George Mesires, has declined to return numerous messages from Just the News seeking comment on his client’s foreign business dealings.
The Ukrainians were the first to see the potential to capitalize on Hunter Biden’s WFP charitable connections. Documents on the laptop show that on March 16, 2015 Burisma adviser Vadym Pozharskyi wrote to Hunter Biden: “Following our conversation, I would like to let you know that it would be great if we could combine our efforts and do something important together in the area of food safety, as well in other areas of interest for WFP and other UN strategic initiatives.”
“This is great,” Hunter replied on the same day. “My thinking is that we create and fund an operation based at CSIS.org that focuses on solutions to food security that can be implemented in real time…my long term thinking is that this is what I/ We are known for. The possible connection to the UN leadership and the real ability that we have to bring both ideas and capital to the table along with a platform (CSIS/WFP) makes this a very interesting opportunity. I would love for you to be a partner in it.”
Four days later, on March 20, 2015, Hunter Biden emailed a tentative guest list to his longtime business partner Archer, who now awaits sentencing for securities fraud, for a forthcoming dinner that would convene some of Hunter Biden’s most controversial foreign business associates in the secluded “Garden Room” at the Cafe Milano in Washington D.C.
Hunter Biden saved “3 seats for WFP people,” another three seats for his Kazakh associates, two seats for former Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and his wife, Russian oligarch Yelena Baturina — Russia’s wealthiest woman — as well as a seat for a Burisma representative, Pozharskyi.
Archer questioned Hunter Biden’s decision to invite…
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