Senate Report Shows China Company CEFC Sent Over $5 Million to Hunter Biden Related Firms Just Days After “I Am Sitting Here With My Father” Text to Chinese Business Associate

A Senate report from September 2020 titled “Hunter Biden, Burisma, and Corruption: The Impact on U.S. Government Policy and Related Concerns” reports over $5 million was sent to two Hunter Biden related firms by the Chinese firm CEFC in early August 2017, which turns out to be just days after Hunter Biden sent a threatening WhatsApp text message on July 30, 2017 to Chinese business associate Henry Zhao that claimed Hunter’s father Joe Biden was “sitting here” with him.

The WhatsApp message was revealed Thursday as part of a package of IRS whistleblower statements and evidence released by the House Ways and Means Committee.

“I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight. And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my directions. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father.”

A July 30th, 2017, WhatsApp message from Hunter Biden to Henry Zhao: “I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled… pic.twitter.com/yVukTL9emb

— Miranda Devine (@mirandadevine) June 22, 2023

The Washington Free Beacon reported Friday that photos found on Hunter’s laptop of Hunter sitting in Joe Biden’s Corvette at the Biden family home in Wilmington, Delaware were taken the same day as the WhatsApp text (excerpt):

Photographs on Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop place him at his father’s Wilmington, Delaware, residence on the day he invoked President Joe Biden’s name in a text message, threatening his Chinese business partner to come down on him with their full weight if the business partner did not fulfill his “commitment.”

In that message, sent on July 30, 2017, to an official, Henry Zhao, working with a Chinese energy conglomerate CEFC Energy—linked to Chinese military intelligence—Hunter Biden said he was sitting next to his father and that “we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled.”

New York Times reporter Ken Vogel noted the timing of the CEFC payments with the WhatsApp text, “Within 10 days of Hunter Biden’s WhatsApp message to the Chinese official associated with CEFC, a CEFC subsidiary sent 2 payments totaling $5.1M to accounts linked to Hunter, according to records cited in the Senate GOP investigation.”

Within 10 days of Hunter Biden’s WhatsApp message to the Chinese official associated with CEFC, a CEFC subsidiary sent 2 payments totaling $5.1M to accounts linked to Hunter, according to records cited in the Senate GOP investigation. https://t.co/myy4Xw8un2 pic.twitter.com/EEkb3sa6Y7

— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) June 23, 2023

The Senate report reveals on page 78 (footnotes at source):

On Aug. 4, 2017, CEFC Infrastructure Investment (US) LLC, a subsidiary of Ye Jianming’s CEFC China Energy Company that listed Gongwen Dong as its director, sent Hunter Biden’s law firm, Owasco, a payment for $100,000.375 This transaction was identified for potential criminal financial activity. 376 One of the investment entities of CEFC Infrastructure Investment is reportedly Shanghai Huaxin Group, a Chinese state-owned enterprise “engaged in petroleum products.”377 That company is owned by CEFC Shanghai International Group Ltd., which is controlled by Shanghai Guosheng Group, another state-owned enterprise.378 According to reporting, CEFC Shanghai was a CEFC subsidiary linked to the aforementioned corruption allegations involving the head of the China Development Bank.379 These examples further
illustrate the deep financial connections between Biden, Owasco, and the Chinese government.

On Aug. 8, 2017, CEFC Infrastructure Investment wired $5 million to the bank account for Hudson West III.380 These funds may have originated from a loan issued from the account of a company called Northern International Capital Holdings, a Hong Kong-based investment
company identified at one time as a “substantial shareholder” in CEFC International Limited along with Ye.381 It is unclear whether Hunter Biden was half-owner of Hudson West III at that time. However, starting on Aug. 8, the same day the $5 million was received, and continuing
through Sept. 25, 2018, Hudson West III sent frequent payments to Owasco, Hunter Biden’s firm. 382 These payments, which were described as consulting fees, reached $4,790,375.25 in just over a year.

Background from TGP’s Cristina Laila’s report Thursday (excerpt):

One IRS whistleblower revealed Hunter Biden demanded payment from his Chinese business associate over WhatsApp messenger.

Hunter Biden demanded payment and threatened Henry Zhao, a Chinese Communist Party official and director of Harvest Fund Management.

Harvest Fund Management had previously invested in Hunter Biden’s firm, BHR Partners – a private investment fund founded in 2013 that is co-owned by the Bank of China.

…On August 8, 2017, $5 million was wired from a CEFC-affiliated investment vehicle (Northern International) to the bank account for Hudson West III, which spent the next year transferring $4,790,375 million directly to Hunter Biden’s firm, Owasco.

More background via the New York Post (excerpt):

Zhao, who is a Communist Party official, invested in Hunter’s firm Bohai Harvest RST Equity Investment Fund Management Co., also known as BHR Partners, which the first son cofounded with other Chinese entities in 2013 — 12 days after he joined then-Vice President Biden for a trip aboard Air Force Two to Beijing.

During the trip, Biden met the firm’s CEO, Jonathan Li, in China’s capital. The 80-year-old president has since written college recommendation letters for Li’s children.

Hunter Biden as recently as 2021 held a 10% stake in BHR Partners, which holds nearly $2.2 billion in assets, but the White House has refused to answer questions about his current holdings.

Business records show Hunter remains invested. His attorney, Chris Clark, maintains he sold the funds.

The White House was pressed by reporters at Friday’s briefing on Hunter’s WhatsApp text. John Kirby walked out instead of answering while Karine Jean Pierre stonewalled.