Hunter Biden Reportedly Used Family Ties to Help Friend Win Primaries While Doing Deals With China

The ongoing probe into Hunter Biden's tax issues, which started in 2018, has reportedly reached a "critical stage." The first son may be charged with a variety of tax offenses, as well as possible offenses related to foreign lobbying, according to officials. The younger Biden has denied wrongdoing on multiple occasions.

Hunter Biden and his longtime business partner Eric Schwerin were actively working behind the scenes in 2016 to raise money for a prominent former Biden adviser's congressional campaign while also working on Chinese business deals with the adviser's business partner, Fox News Digital reported on Thursday.

Close connections build business, it seems. According to emails obtained by the outlet, Francis "Fran" Person, who worked in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2014 as a special assistant to President Barack Obama and an adviser to then-Vice President Joe Biden, left the White House in late July 2014 to serve in an advisory capacity at his alma mater, the University of South Carolina. Less than six months later, in January 2015, he reportedly became the president of the Harves Group.

Person still frequently corresponded via email with Hunter and Schwerin of the now-defunct Rosemont Seneca Partners about business dealings connected to the Harves Group in 2015 and 2016, per the report.

He also made numerous trips to the White House during that time, including joining Bo Zhang, the Chinese executive who founded the Harves Group and supposedly had connections to officials at some of the highest levels of the Communist Party of China, at a White House holiday reception in December 2015.

More to that, Person declared on February 29, 2016, that he would run for the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican Rep. Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina.

Then, according to the outlet, one day after the announcement, Hunter introduced George Duko, a DuPont executive, to Zhang in an email, outlining a prospective commercial connection between DuPont and Harves. Person and Zhang's aunt were Bcc'd on the email.

"Their reputation is impeccable, and they have strong local, provincial, and national level government relationships - specifically in Shenzhen - which is essential in getting any major project done," Hunter wrote in that email, per the report.

On March 3, 2016, Schwerin allegedly introduced Person to Jeff Cooper, an associate of his and Hunter's in business. A later email from the individual thanked Schwerin for the introduction and stated that given his own "close relationship with VP Biden," there is "a very high anticipation" that he will be a "well funded candidate."

In October of that year, Cooper would reportedly give Person's campaign $2,700. Meanwhile, Hunter Biden reportedly met with Zhang, the chairman and CEO of Harves, on March 30 of that year.

Next month, the partners, together with the director of communications of the National Basketball Players Association Tara Greco, discussed the possibility of building stadiums in China under the auspices of the NBA. The talk was allegedly about the province of Liaoning in northern China, where Zhang allegedly had close business and political ties.

To meet with Duko of DuPont, Hunter, Schwerin, and Zhang drove to Wilmington, Delaware, on May 4, 2016. Asked by the outlet whether he remembered Fran Person's name coming up during their discussion in Wilmington and whether Hunter, Schwerin, or Zhang had presented any additional business opportunities to DuPont in China, Duko replied: "I did meet with Hunter at their request, they wanted to discuss land we were in the process of selling at that time.

"The transaction was already under contract to be sold and I informed Hunter that we would be proceeding with the transaction as planned," he added. "We did not and have not discussed any other business dealings since that meeting. I do not recall the name Fran Person."

Meanwhile, Hunter allegedly sought help even from Brian Steel, a CNBC executive from 2007 to 2021. In his reply to Hunter's email asking him if he might contribute to Person's campaign in September 2016, Steel made an interesting revelation, per Fox News.

"I look forward to seeing you on Monday. I’d love to support Fran but unfortunately as the EVP of CNBC, I’m not allowed to donate to political campaigns," Steel wrote. "In year[s] past I would get around that by having my wife donate but after CNBC hosted a controversial/aggressive Republican primary debate earlier this year, Breibart [sic] and Rush Limbaugh outed me as the husband of a ‘max’ Hillary donor so I can’t even have Eileen donate anymore."

According to an earlier report, Hunter referred to Zhang as a "good friend and business colleague" in a letter to an alleged Chinese Communist Party official Henry Zhao, who was also the CEO of Harvest Fund Management.

Soon after, Hunter began to send invitations to his contacts to fundraisers in support of Person multiple times, sometimes writing, "Most of you know what Fran Person means to me and my family and we are excited to support him in his run for Congress," and at least three of them were allegedly addressed by his father, then the vice president of the United States.

At one of the events, according to the publication, Evan Ryan, the current White House cabinet secretary and the wife of secretary of state Antony Blinken, gave $8,100 to Person's campaign. Numerous family members of President Biden, including his wife Jill, sister Valerie, brother James, brother-in-law Jack, nieces Casey and Missy, and Hunter, contributed significantly to Person's campaign in 2016.

However, despite the Bidens' fundraising efforts, Person did not ultimately win. The Democrat candidate faced no opposition in the primary but lost to Mulvaney on November 8, 2016.