In case you missed seeing it in the mainstream news, and you likely did, the House Oversight Committee held a press conference on Wednesday revealing that the family of the president of the United States has taken in over $10 million from foreign entities for no apparent business reasons other than U.S. government influence.
The loot flowed into a convoluted web of nearly 20 Biden family and associate shell companies shortly before, during, and after Joe’s vice presidency with obscure names and purposes like Hudson West III, Hudson West V, Owascu, and JBB SR INC.
In some cases, the 36-page report states, "Biden associates would receive significant deposits from foreign sources," then "transfer smaller, incremental payments to Biden bank accounts."
These "complicated and seemingly unnecessary" transactions appeared to be an "effort to conceal the source and total amount received from the foreign companies."
U.S. House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky, said that at least nine Biden family members have received foreign income, including Hunter, James, James’s wife Sara, Hallie, Hunter’s ex-wife (Kathleen Buhle), Hunter’s current wife (Melissa Cohen), and three children or grandchildren of Joe or James.
According to bank records, Chinese nationals and companies connected with some of these transfers with "significant ties to Chinese intelligence and the Chinese Communist Party hid the source[s] of funds paid out to the Bidens by layering domestic limited liability companies."
Whereas Hunter Biden received money directly into his company’s account from CEFC, a Chinese-controlled entity, several Biden family members reportedly received Chinese money passed through an associate’s account.
CEFC’s founder and chairman, Ye Jianming, had a background in Chinese military intelligence, who the House committee said, "used his company to promote President Xi Jinping’s agenda globally."
One of Ye’s deputies, Patrick Ho, was convicted in the U.S. in 2018 on international bribery and money laundering.
In 2017 Ye’s emissary to the U.S., Gongwen Dong, established a corporate entity with Hunter — each with 50% ownership.
Over 14 months the entity reportedly dispersed more than $4 million to Hunter-related companies and another $75,000 to companies related to the President’s brother, James Biden.
Dong used a separate set of complex corporate entities and transfers to send Hunter another $100,000 payment.
Also in 2017, another Ye-related company — State Energy HK — paid some $3 million to Hunter’s business associates, of which at least $1 million was then funneled in 16 separate payments over three months to five different bank accounts, all related to the Biden name.
The recipients included companies associated with Hunter and James Biden, an unknown bank account identified simply as "Biden" and a payment to Hallie Biden — the widow of Hunter’s deceased brother Beau and later Hunter’s girlfriend.
As reported in The Wall Street Journal, emails and text messages made public in 2020 by former Hunter business partner Tony Bobulinski — related to a separate attempted deal with CEFC— quote Hunter demanding more because CEFC is "coming to be MY partner to be partners with the Bidens."
Hunter is also quoted noting that "I’m the only one putting an entire family legacy on the line."
In another email reported by the New York Post, Hunter boasted that Ye would pay him millions for "introductions alone."
Then there’s also clear House Committee evidence of suspicious activities in Romania from 2015 to 2017 when Biden family and associates received over a million dollars from a company controlled by Gabriel Popoviciu, a Romanian accused of corruption.
Ironically, Vice President Joe Biden was lecturing Romania on corruption and ethics at that time.
Whereas Joe Biden has repeatedly denied knowing about his son’s overseas business dealings, a Fox News Digital review of photographs show that he met with at least 14 of Hunter’s business partners, including Mexico, Ukraine, China and Kazakhstan over the course of his vice presidency.
Meanwhile, Rep. Comer, along with Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, have demanded materials withheld by the FBI cited in what they called "highly credible unclassified whistleblower disclosures" about an unclassified document detailing "an alleged criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Biden and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions."
If you’re wondering why little-to-nothing regarding the House Oversight Committee report about corruption allegations with major national security implications receiving any notice in most of the media, it’s because there were two other must-see headline stories that were obviously deemed more important.
One featured a federal jury finding Donald Trump liable in a civil suit for allegedly sexually abusing Jean Carroll in a Manhattan department store nearly 40 years ago - although she couldn’t recall the year or date - which she first made publicly in 2019.
The other addressed 13 felony charges of no significant national consequence filed against Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., for seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives.
Misguided media priorities maybe?
Or more likely, just weaponized Democratic deflection politics as usual.
Larry Bell is an endowed professor of space architecture at the University of Houston where he founded the Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture and the graduate space architecture program. His latest of 12 books is "Architectures Beyond Boxes and Boundaries: My Life By Design" (2022). Read Larry Bell's Reports — More Here.