President Joe Biden’s brother partnered with Qatari government-linked officials to raise funds for his rural hospital venture, according to newly unearthed testimony by his former business partner.
James Biden sought to raise money from Qatari sources to fund Americore, a distressed health-care company he joined following Joe Biden’s vice presidency, Politico reported based on bankruptcy court testimony and accompanying documents from former business partner Michael Lewitt. Two companies they worked with were partially owned by “members of the Qatari government.”
The outlet previously obtained other public records and internal emails showing James Biden invoked his brother’s name while fundraising and attempted to work around international investment restrictions.
House Republicans have sought to interview Lewitt for the impeachment inquiry into the Biden family’s foreign business dealings. It’s unclear if an interview has been scheduled. Lewitt and the Securities and Exchange Commission settled a fraud case against him and he is banned from the securities industry for five years.
James Biden testified in February for the impeachment inquiry and insisted his brother was not involved with his foreign business dealings. Joe Biden’s son Hunter, whose business dealings are the primary focus of the impeachment inquiry, similarly insisted his father did not participate in his business dealings, despite significant evidence to the contrary.
Hunter and James Biden worked together on a lucrative joint venture alongside Chinese infrastructure conglomerate CEFC that existed from August 2017 through 2018 to facilitate U.S. energy deals for CEFC. None of the U.S. deals materialized, a former business partner testified.
Americore became part of the impeachment inquiry due to a $200,000 payment James Biden sent his brother on the same day he received the money from the health-care company in March 2018. The payment is classified as a loan repayment, but James Biden testified he did not have documentation for the loan from Joe Biden.
Bankruptcy court documents indicate James Biden suggested his last name could “open doors” for Americore and promised a sizable investment from the Middle East. The investment did not materialize and Americore eventually fell apart.
Lewitt, Biden, and Florida businessman Amer Rustom, CEO of the Platinum Group, to fundraise for Americore through Middle Eastern sources, primarily in Qatar. A former Americore executive told Politico James Biden and his business partners said Qatari officials were interested in putting more money into the U.S. health-care sector.
Americore was trying to fundraise $30 million to keep the company afloat, and in the meantime Lewitt’s hedge fund sent Americore $30 million in bridge loans, $600,000 of which went into James Biden’s pocket.
Biden’s wife Sara emailed a draft presentation to a Platinum Group executive in March 2018 where James Biden was described as “Brother and Campaign Finance Chair of former Vice President Joe Biden,” according to internal emails previously obtained by Politico.
The Platinum Group executive, Julie Lander, emailed Jim Biden about fundraising and appeared to refer to a meeting with a Qatari government official. In June 2018, Lewitt emailed Biden and Americore CEO Grant White discussing his efforts to move money into Qatar and mentioned a trip to Doha to meet with the Arab nation’s then-finance minister Ali Sharif Al Hamadi. The former Americore executive recalled Lewitt and Biden taking a trip to Doha in mid-2018 but it’s unclear if the meeting took place.
Lewitt later wrote an email to Biden suggesting his $30 million worth of loans to Americore would be paid off with Qatari money.
“Nothing else changes in terms of what I will be doing re Americore,” Lewitt said, “since I will be just as responsible for the Dubai$$$ with the added worry of being driven around the desert….LOL,” he added.
The fundraising trio of Biden, Lewitt, and Rustom also pursued investments from the Qatar Investment Authority for separate healthcare ventures, Politico reported based on documents disclosed in a federal court case in Tennessee. In 2019, the businessmen, Sara Biden, and Rustom’s brother Azzam opened another company, Platinum Global Partners LLC, to land Qatari investments for infrastructure projects and hotels.
“I was looking for investments from Qatar, again, in infrastructure projects. They were building hotels in Miami. They were building hotels, you know, I mean, you know, all over, you know, the United States,” Biden testified of the Platinum Global venture.
The company was dissolved in 2020 and the Qatari investment proposals fell through.