- Emails apparently show dealings between Hunter Biden and Chinese executive with connections to the country’s communist party
- And they reveal that Biden’s firm had stakes in Chinese companies, according to Fox Business
- Biden was introduced to the company by a former senior aide in his father’s office Francis Person
- ‘Fran has been like a son to Joe and me,’ said Jill Biden when he left the White House in 2014
Hunter Biden‘s private equity firm invested in a company run by a Chinese executive with ties to officials at some of the highest levels of the Communist Party of China, it emerged on Thursday.
It adds to scrutiny of President’s Biden’s son’s business interests at a time when Republicans are threatening to make him testify in Congress if they take back the House this year.
Emails showed that as recently March 2017, his firm Rosemont Seneca Advisors held a five percent stake in Harves Amusement Parks as well as in interest in Harves Sports and Entertainment.
Their parent company. Harves Century Group, is backed by the state-owned China Development Bank and is headquartered in Shenyang, China, according to Fox Business which revealed the existence of the emails.
They reveal that Biden’s introduction to the Harves Group came in 2015 from Francis Person – who was an adviser to Joe Biden when he was in the Senate, and then from 2009 to 2014 when he was vice president.
In July 2015, Person invited him to visit China the following month to meet Bo Zhang, his business partner.
‘Bo Zhang and his family would host us,’ he wrote in the email.
‘They are a great family with great respect and relationships in China. Bo graduated from American Univ and is in his late 20’s, and his parents own Harves Century Group of Shenyang – which is a top-tier private Chinese real estate development firm.
‘His mom is actually the chairman of the company, which is unique in China.
‘They are very private, and wouldn’t tell anyone about you coming. Bo’s father-in-law is actually the Governor of Hainan (Chinese Hawaii), which he doesn’t advertise at all.’
Person added that his business partner Zhang was ‘being groomed to take over his family’s dynasty.’
But he said he was not trying to sell Biden anything, rather the trip was about growing ‘that relationship’ and ‘there will be plenty of big things that come down the road that we can work on.
He added some stardust to the invitation by adding that Harves was partnering with basketball stars Magic Johnson and LeBron James in 2016 to ‘host an NBA Global Game in China.’
Person started as a bodyman to Sen. Joe Biden and rose to become one of his most trusted confidants as vice president.
When he left his employment, a string of advisers – many of whom now inhabit the upper reaches of the White House – paid tribute to his work.
Dr. Jill Biden told Politico: ‘Fran has been like a son to Joe and me.
‘For eight years, we traveled the country, shared holidays together … Fran may be leaving the office, but he will always be a part of our family.’
Ron Klain, now Biden’s White House chief of staff, and Mike Donilon, now a senior adviser to the president, were among those who spoke in glowing terms at the time.
Person initially left for a job at the University of South Carolina, but by the start of 2015 he was heading up Harves in Washington.
According to his LinkedIn page, he ‘helped guide the formation of the Harves Group headquartered in Washington DC, serving as the U.S. affiliate of Harves.’
Fox Business reported that Hunter Biden was unable to make the planned China trip, but other emails showed that Person and Zhang met with him in Washington, D.C.