Here are your FOX Business Flash top headlines for March 18.
EXCLUSIVE: Multiple 2016 and 2017 emails from Hunter Biden’s longtime business partner Eric Schwerin, which were obtained by FOX Business, raise new questions about a claim made by Biden’s attorney regarding Biden’s divestiture in a technology-focused fund.
Leaked Treasury Department records obtained as part of the FinCen Files revealed that Hares Youssef, a Ukrainian-Syrian businessman with alleged ties to Russian organized crime, paid mbloom — a now-defunct technology startup fund backed by Hawaii’s Strategic State Development Corporation and Rosemont Seneca Technology Partners (RSTP) — nearly $3 million.
George Mesires, Biden’s attorney, told the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) in 2020 that Biden had divested himself from his holdings in RSTP before the controversial investment in late 2015.
“Mr. Biden severed his relationship with Rosemont Seneca Technology Partners prior to this transaction,” Mesires said.
HUNTER BIDEN, FORMER BIDEN AIDE INVESTED IN CHINESE COMPANY TIED TO COMMUNIST PARTY, NBA CHINA
Hunter Biden and Joe Biden (Getty Images)
The transaction was flagged via a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) by the City National Bank in Los Angeles based on reports tying Youssef to Semion Mogilevich — also known as “The Brainy Don” — as well as international arms trafficking. The SAR also pointed to allegations of Youssef being tied to Syrian General Maher al-Assad, the brother of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
According to the OCCRP, suspicious activity reports, or SARs, “are secret alerts issued by bank compliance officers when there are suspicions that a transaction may be linked to crime or money laundering. The existence of a SAR is not itself evidence of wrongdoing.”
While there doesn’t appear to be evidence that Biden personally orchestrated the investment into mbloom by Youssef, emails reviewed by FOX Business show that Biden was in regular communication with RSTP leaders and had investment interests in multiple RSTP funds in 2016 and 2017, despite Biden’s attorney claiming he “severed his relationship” with RSTP. OCCRP also reported that financial records examined by reporters “show that money from mbloom was paid into another of [Devon] Archer’s accounts, which was at the time making regular payments to [Hunter] Biden.”
Hunter Biden (Randy Holmes via Getty Images)
Archer was a longtime business partner and friend of Hunter, who served on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings with him. In a November 2014 email, Hunter called Archer a “great friend through thick and thin” and said he wanted Archer to know how much he appreciated it. Archer was sentenced to federal prison last month for his role in a scheme to defraud a Native American tribe. Biden had no connection to the fraud scheme.
Youssef, who was reportedly “introduced” through Archer to the mbloom deal “as an investor,” previously told OCCRP that it was “bull s—” that he was involved with organized crime.
A couple 2017 emails from Schwerin call into question Mesires’ claim with a breakdown of Biden’s investments through Owasco LLC, including his 15% stake in “RSTP I” and “RSTP II Alpha and Bravo.”
Email screenshot obtained by Fox Business.
“RSTP I, RSTP II Alpha and Bravo (ownership percentages vary but approx. 15% each): Investment vehicles for ownership in Counsyl a genetic testing company,” the email reads.
A 2016 email from Schwerin to Hunter and his divorce attorney, Sarah Mancinelli, shows that Owasco, LLC, which Schwerin says was “set up” to “hold Hunter’s investment interests,” owns a “100% interest in Rosemont Seneca Technology Partners (RSTP) I, RSTP II Alpha and RSTP II Bravo.
“The investments in RSTP, Eudora and Tadich Grill are not investments that could be exited at this time and as they are private investments finding a current value would be impossible and if in fact we could some of them may have a negative value currently,” Schwerin added.
A 2017 email from Schwerin also mentions RSTP and Biden’s involvement.
Email screenshot obtained by Fox Business.
Email screenshot obtained by Fox Business.
Biden also received multiple 2016 emails addressing him as an “RSTP investor” and warning him that some of the RSTP leaders’ emails were compromised and not to open “specious emails.”
Another email from Schwerin shows that he responded to a man named Andrew Dibble in late April 2016 about a potential investment. He noted that Hunter was “traveling overseas,” but said they “just heard back” from their “colleagues at RSTP,” appearing to suggest Hunter was still involved with RSTP months after the mbloom deal, despite his attorney saying he “severed his relationship” with RSTP.
Email screenshot obtained by Fox Business.
A March 2017 email from Joan Mayer, who was the vice president of Rosemont Seneca Advisors from 2008 until September 2017, to Hunter showed a breakdown of his “ownership entities,” which included a 14.4% ownership of RSTP and 15.2% for two other RSTP funds.
Email screenshot obtained by Fox Business.
A 2018 email from Hunter’s tax accountant, Bill Morgan, about 2017 investments also referenced Hunter’s stake in multiple RSTP funds and “Rosemont Seneca Technology,” which appears to be referring to RSTP, the company Hunter allegedly divested from. In the email, he asks Hunter for the partnership K-1 forms for RSTP and the other funds.
Email screenshot obtained by Fox Business.
Other emails reviewed by FOX Business from between 2015 and 2017 show Hunter communicating with multiple RSTP leaders, including Neil Callahan and Rob Walker, who were co-founders and managing partners at RSTP.
The revelations from the emails call into question Biden’s investments in shady companies amid his father’s tenure as vice president of the United States, a pattern that FOX Business has previously reported on.
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They also come as Hunter faces a tax probe in Delaware that has seen both the mother of his child born out of wedlock and his angry ex-girlfriend testify to a grand jury.
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Hunter paid off a significant tax liability last year after he revealed in 2020 that there was a federal investigation into his “tax affairs.” The report also finally confirmed the authenticity of emails from Hunter’s laptop, which were repeatedly called “Russian disinformation” by officials in the Biden administration and Biden-friendly media outlets.
Schwerin, Mesires, Morgan and an attorney for Biden did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Callahan and Walker also did not respond to requests for comment.
