Materials on Hunter Biden’s laptop lift the veil on not just his attempts to trade on the family name, but an entire universe of relatives of the rich and powerful chasing scraps, a Daily Wire review found.
The famous names went especially far overseas, where denizens seemed to assume that like in third world countries, the relatives of American royalty were royalty.
They also include a motley crew of obscure American scions, such as the nephew of notorious mobster Whitey Bulger.
Among Hunter’s close associates were Joe Biden’s brother “Uncle Jim”; Chris Heinz, the stepson of former Secretary of State John Kerry; and Devon Archer, Heinz’s college roommate who went on to become an adviser to Kerry’s presidential campaign.
In 2014, Hunter and Archer joined the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company.
In announcing Hunter’s appointment, Burisma wanted to emphasize that he was the son of the vice president, but Hunter cautioned them, “I think it’s much more effective to let people draw their own conclusions or give it to them on background… If they want to be more subtle they could say something like Mr. Biden served as Honorary Co-Chair of then 2008 Obama-Biden Inaugural Comm.”
Hunter, Archer, and Jason Galanis, a porn magnate who’d had a previous run-in with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), were also involved with a company called Burnham.
An email from Xin Wang, a Chinese executive of a partnership between Hunter’s firm and a Chinese company, said that there were “3 carveouts from Burnham’s exclusivity in North America.” One was for Joseph P. Kennedy Enterprise, which manages the money of the family of former president John F. Kennedy.
In May 2016, Archer and Galanis were charged with fraud involving a Native American tribe — along with Galanis’ father.
In the 1980s, Galanis’ father was sentenced to 27 years in prison in a case involving tax fraud, in which he was prosecuted by Rudy Giuliani. In 2001, he disappeared while on work release. Jason Galanis’ brother Derek is also in prison and says he is listed as an associate of the Gambini crime family. He wrote a book called “Greed and Fear: The Galanis Crime Family,” in which he details his father’s crimes as the “levels of manipulation and the evil machinations that fill the mind of this sociopath afflicted with megalomania.”
Access to foreign countries often came through the relatives of politicians there.
Hunter sought Mexican riches through Miguel Alaman Magnani, the billionaire son of a former Mexican governor and grandson of a former Mexican president. In February 2016, he lamented that no business deal had solidified despite showering him with White House access, writing:
I’m attending meeting w/ President N w/ Dad… We have so many great things to do together and I want you at the plane when the the VP lands with your Mom and Dad… We have been talking about business deals and partnerships for 7 years. And I really appreciate you letting me stay at your resort villa…but I have brought every single person you have ever asked me to bring to the F’ing WHite House and the Vice President’s house and the inauguration and then you go completely silent.
Alaman Magnani was also an investor in Hunter’s firm Rosemont, according to the emails.
Archer was “on the board of the KZ [Kazakhstan] National Investment Fund and very close w/ PM of KZ and his son Iskander,” Hunter wrote to a friend seeking investment for a real estate venture in Los Angeles. Hunter also said the “PMs son is a very good friend” of his own.
In another email, Archer told Hunter they would be having dinner at the home of Timur Kulibayev, the son-in-law of a former president of Kazakhstan, saying “Supposedly worth 5-10X what Forbes has him at which is $2.1b. On the Board of [Russian oil company] Gazprom. Major player.” He sent a link to his Wikipedia page.
“See ref to money laundering,” Hunter said.
“An accusation from what I’ve read,” Archer replied.
The Financial Times later reported on a “secret scheme” that “appears to allow Kulibayev to receive a share of the profits from pipeline contracts granted to ETK, a company owned by Russian businessman Alexander Karmanov.”
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In June 2014, Archer sent Hunter an email that he proposed sending in Hunter’s name with the subject “Mohammad draft (aka Emirs bro).” Mohammed bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani is the son of Qatar’s former ruler and brother of its current ruler.
We “want to form a long term partnership with Qatar and will do what we can to make sure there is room for” the Qatar Investment Authority, it said, signing off: “Very Best, Hunter.”
The company’s inroads in the country of Mali also came from the family of a top leader.
“I wanted to connect you by email to John Nevergole who works with us on a number of projects and is partners with the son-in-law of Mali’s former President. Per our conversation yesterday, John can help you figure out some connections to Africom and also talk to you about how to proceed on Mali,” Eric Schwerin, one of Hunter’s partners in a venture called Rosemont Seneca, wrote to an associate in July 2012.
The prior year, Schwerin wrote to Hunter that Archer had a meeting with Mali’s president.
Nevergole also informed Hunter and Archer that he had arranged a meeting with the president of Guinea through “Alpha (the President’s son).”
Signed books from Joe Biden helped play up Hunter’s clout abroad.
In 2011, Archer asked Hunter for “3 Biden books” to leave with Zong Qinghou, a Chinese billionaire, with whom “we’re going to do a follow-on real estate pitch or just general ‘we can be your agent in the US’ convo.”
“Of course,” Hunter replied. A colleague noted that “there weren’t any books in the office that I could see except for two unsigned hardbacks that Arlene gave us to get signed – which we need to do,” and Hunter added, “There are whole stack o them in my bookcase by desk.”
Apparently referring to an Indian businessman Hunter’s firm was courting for an investment, another of Hunter’s colleagues, Rob Walker, wrote, “Are you going to see your dad before tuesday afternoon? Ravi sent me two books to get signed about 6 months ago and I haven’t done a thing.”
On the American side, a partner in their Chinese dealings was James Bulger, the nephew of Whitey Bulger, the notorious Boston mobster who was arrested in 2011 after 16 years on the lam.
Hunter’s secretary was Anne Marie Person, who appears to be the younger sister of Fran Person, Joe Biden’s longtime body man. In 2015, after Fran left the White House, he entered the world of international deals, having what Hunter called “a very real China deal he is working on” to bring Sea World to China.
Fran wrote that he just “finished a meeting with former Ambassador to China, Gary Locke, who is on the board of Harves Investment Group,” the U.S. arm of a Chinese real estate company tied to the China Development Bank.
The network of relatives of the powerful extended to the corporate world, too.
Lea Carpenter, a descendent of the du Pont dynasty that amounts to royalty in Delaware, contacted Hunter to get an email address for Heinz, the stepson of John Kerry. Hunter, in turn, said he’d “like to reconnect with Louis Freeh’s son,” referring to the son of the former FBI director. Carpenter provided his email.
When Archer asked if Hunter knew a political consultant pitching an international deal, who he described as an “interesting character to say the least,” Hunter said he knew him through “the Waste Management co founder’s son.”
Hunter also wrote that the son of Jim Kimsey, an AOL co-founder, “tried to set up a meeting with him for us.”
Perhaps the most on-point email in Hunter’s inbox came not from a business associate, but in an advertisement for a line of preppy clothing.
“Bring your dad to work day,” the subject line said, adding in the body: “We immediately regretted that decision.”
Part 1: Hunter Biden Discussed Plans For A Business That Would Include Joe Biden, Emails Show
Part 2: Hunter’s World: Biden Son Had Tentacles In Dark Corners Of the World Far Beyond China, Ukraine