Hunter Biden demanded confidentiality during SEC fraud investigation, saying it would be ‘unfair’ to politically harm his father

Hunter Biden’s lawyers tried to invoke President Biden’s name in order to keep a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation out of the public eye, according to documents released by the House Oversight Committee.

The first son was under investigation in 2016 as part of a federal probe into alleged fraud of a Native American tribe by two of Biden’s business associates, Jason Galanis and Devon Archer – both of whom were convicted guilty of fraud and sentenced to prison. .

Biden’s lawyer, whose name is redacted in the document, asked the SEC to treat the investigation with the “highest degree of confidentiality” because it would be “unfair” to the then-vice president to receive negative media coverage.

While Biden reportedly escapes criminal charges in the SEC investigation, he has been charged with multiple felonies for lying about his drug use to purchase a gun and for failure to pay state taxes. money he had earned trading Biden’s name overseas. He was convicted of gun-related charges and is now awaiting sentencing; he will be tried on the tax charges in September.

Regarding the SEC investigation: “As a preliminary matter, we ask that you treat this matter with the highest degree of confidentiality, consistent with Commission policy and applicable law,” Biden’s lawyers wrote to the office SEC Regional in New York in April 2016.

“The confidential nature of this investigation is very important to our client and it would be unfair, not only to our client, but also to his father, the Vice President of the United States, if his involvement in an SEC investigation and a parallel criminal investigation should be the subject of media attention,” the lawyers wrote at the time.

Biden’s lawyers asked the SEC to keep the documents secret even if Freedom of Information Act requests were filed, in order to save face for the then-vice president. “Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, we hereby request confidential treatment of this material to the extent permitted by law,” they wrote. “We further request that these documents be maintained on a non-public record and that access to them by any third party inconsistent with routine uses of the SEC be denied.”

The chairmen of the Oversight and Judiciary committees, Congressmen James Comer and Jim Jordan, are demanding answers from the SEC about the agency’s alleged special treatment of Biden because of his father’s job title.

Mr. Biden’s response gratuitously invoked his father’s position as vice president, which could be interpreted as an effort to discourage further scrutiny from the SEC. And on May 11, 2016, the SEC issued a press release – announcing the indictment of seven people – without any mention or indictment of Hunter Biden,” Mr. Comer said in a statement.

Galanis is serving a 15-year prison sentence at the federal prison camp in Montgomery, Alabama, where House investigators visited him in February to question him about Biden. Archer, whose conviction was overturned and later reinstated, was sentenced to one year and one day of incarceration and was recently ordered to report to prison.

MM. Comer and Jordan sent a letter to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler demanding answers about the incident from the SEC. They say they are entitled to all communications between Biden’s lawyers and the Obama-Biden White House, all documents about the SEC’s response to Biden’s confidentiality request, and all internal deliberations within of the SEC on the fact that Biden cites his father as a reason for needing confidentiality. .

Biden was a key source of information in the investigation into the Native American fraud scheme, according to House Republicans. He turned over nearly 1,800 documents, including internal communications from Rosemont Seneca Bohai — the first son’s lobbying shell company created with Archer and Archer’s friend from Yale, Chris Heinz, the ketchup heir who is Secretary Kerry’s stepson. Republicans say the now-defunct Rosemont was a key part of Biden’s “influence peddling scheme.”

Rosemont, from which Mr. Heinz extricated himself amid intense scrutiny of Biden’s business affairs, did not list Biden as a director or officer of the company, perhaps allowing him to avoid indictment .

Archer and Galanis proved to be key witnesses in the impeachment investigation of Messrs. Comer and Jordan over the past year. Archer first gave a transcribed interview for the impeachment committee in 2023, telling House members that the “Biden brand” was the only addition to including Biden in their business dealings. Galanis, from his prison camp in Alabama, told panel members that he, Biden and other partners were involved in “illegal personal dealings” and that Biden had named him as the person responsible for the Native American fraud scheme.

Archer stopped short of accusing Biden of crimes, but told Tucker Carlson that his friendship with the first son had been his personal, financial and professional downfall.