Hunter Biden Used Joe to Help Close Deals With Chinese, Russian Business Partners, Imprisoned Ex-Associate Claims

Hunter Biden routinely leveraged his connection to then-Vice President Joe Biden during negotiations with Chinese and Russian business associates, a former business partner testified from prison last month.

Jason Galanis, a businessman in prison for committing securities fraud, claimed Hunter Biden used his father’s name to help push Chinese and Russian business deals across the finish line, according to a transcript publicized by the Oversight and Judiciary Committees.

Hunter Biden, Galanis, and former business partner Devon Archer paired up to facilitate the acquisition of Burnham & Co., a division of Drexel Burnham Lambert, and other financial-services businesses to potentially create a billion dollar, multinational company, Galanis testified.

“Our objective was to build a diversified private equity platform, which would be anchored by a globally known Wall Street brand together with a globally known political name,” Galanis said in his opening statement.

“Our goal, that is, Hunter Biden, Devon Archer, and myself, was to make billions, not millions.”

Galanis said Hunter Biden’s value to the business was the access he provided to his father and his connections in foreign nations such as Kazakhstan, China, and Russia.

“The entire value add of Hunter Biden to our business was his family name and his access to his father, Vice President Joe Biden,” Galanis stated. “As part of the evolving and deepening partnership, Hunter served as vice chairman to Burnham and brought strategic relationships to the venture, including from Kazakhstan, Russia, and China.”

Hunter Biden spearheaded the company’s partnership with Harvest Fund Management, a $300 million Chinese financials-services firm closely tied to the Chinese Communist Party, Galanis alleged. Harvest chairman Henry Zhao was apparently a business contact of Hunter Biden’s.

“Mr. Zhao was interested in this partnership because of the game-changing value add of the Biden family, including Joe Biden, who was to be a member of the Burnham Harvest team Post-Vice Presidency, providing political access to the United States and around the world,” Galanis explained.

Galanis alleged that Joe Biden expressed interest in joining Burham’s board after his vice presidency in “many conversations” on the golf course and elsewhere. He cited an August 23, 2014 email in which Hunter Biden suggested a relative of his was interested in sitting on Burham’s board and referenced a conversation he and Archer had while playing golf.

Later in his testimony, Galanis suggested the “Biden lift” motivated Burham to purchase an investment vehicle created by Hunter Biden and business partner Eric Schwerin. The “Biden lift” term was used to describe the access foreign investors would receive upon getting into business with Hunter Biden, Galanis claimed.

Additionally, Galanis recalled Hunter Biden taking a call from his father about the Harvest deal and asking him to help finalize the Burnham agreement.

“Further to that, I recall being with Hunter Biden and Devon Archer at the Peninsula Bar in New York where Hunter took a call from his father. He told his father things were going well with Henry and Harvest and that he might need a little help getting across the finish line,” Galanis told the committees.

Moreover, Galanis recalled Hunter Biden putting his father on a call in May 2014 with Russian oligarch Elena Baturina, an investor in Rosemont Realty, the real-estate portfolio headed by Devon Archer.

“It was not the only time I’ve heard Hunter call his father regarding business matters. I was present when Hunter called his father on a cell phone and put the call on speaker. Present for the call were Yelena Baturina, an investor in Rosemont projects; her husband Yuri, and the former mayor of Moscow; and Devon Archer,” Galanis testified.

Days after the phone call, Baturina committed a $10-20 million deal with a Burnham investment banking client, Galanis recalled.

Baturina and Galanis previously met in February 2014 when he helped her start the process of opening a bank account in the U.S. after she invested $105 million into Rosemont Realty. Archer testified that Rosemont Reality was outside of Hunter Biden’s business portfolio.

In February 2014, Baturina wired $3.5 million into a holding company linked to Devon Archer and Hunter Biden, bank records show. The wire from Baturina was part of her Rosemont Realty investment, Archer recalled. Around the time of the wire, Archer said Joe Biden attended a dinner with Baturina at Cafe Milano, a Washington D.C. eatery, Archer testified.

The spring 2014 dinner was among 20 or so instances in which Joe Biden interacted with his son’s foreign business partners, Archer said. Joe Biden has repeatedly denied speaking to any of his son’s business associates, despite testimony from his son and multiple business partners indicating otherwise.

Over $2.7 million of the funds from Baturina were sent to Rosemont Seneca Bohai, a separate account Archer and Biden used for foreign transactions. For example, Archer and Biden received millions in payments from Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings through the Rosemont Seneca Bohai account from 2014-15, the bank records show.

IRS whistleblower Joseph Ziegler, an IRS agent who spent years on the Hunter Biden tax case, testified last year that Hunter Biden and Archer equipped the Rosemont Seneca Bohai account for Burisma payments and a wire from Kazakh oligarch Kenes Rakishev. The funds sent by Rakishev allowed Hunter Biden to purchase a Porsche in 2014.

Hunter Biden denied ever taking money from Baturina when he testified, while confirming his father met multiple foreign business partners including Rakishev. He questioned Galanis’s credibility given his lengthy prison sentence for participating in a fraudulent bond-issuance scheme targeting a Native American tribe.

Galanis suspects the Southern District of New York protected Hunter Biden by not prosecuting him at all despite his role with Burnham, which was involved in the bond scheme.

“I believe the SDNY’s prosecution strategy was intended to protect Hunter Biden and, ultimately, Vice President Biden,” Galanis said. Archer is facing a year and a day in prison for his participating in the bond-issuance enterprise.

The Justice Department led by special counsel David Weiss is now prosecuting Hunter Biden on three federal gun charges and nine federal tax charges in Delaware and California. The younger Biden has pleaded not guilty to all the charges and seeks to have them dismissed.

Hunter Biden repeatedly said his father did not play any role in his foreign business dealings, the subject of the House GOP’s impeachment inquiry into President Biden. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R., Ky.) said following Biden’s testimony a public hearing is the next step of the impeachment inquiry.