Hunter Biden reached out to Chinese CEFC chairman Ye Jianming to send "best wishes from the entire Biden family" and requested a $10 million wire to "properly fund and operate" SinoHawk, a joint venture between Biden and the Chinese energy company, Fox News reported, citing the correspondence between Biden Jr. and Jianming from 2017.
"I hope my letter finds you well. I regret missing you on your last visit to the United States. Please accept the best wishes from the entire Biden family as well as my partners", Hunter Biden wrote in a letter dated 17 June 2017 that he reportedly asked CEFC' Zhao Runlong to translate to the chairman. According to Fox News, he went on to tell Ye that "the establishment of SinoHawk Holdings" was concluded and said that he looked forward to introducing his business associate, Tony Bobulinski.
Later in the email, Biden Jr. said that Bobulinski had "sent a request to Dong Gongwen [Gongwen Dong] and Director Zang for the funding of the $10 MM USD wire", Fox News reported.
"I would appreciate if you will send that quickly so we can properly fund and operate Sinohawk," Biden wrote. "I am sure you have been well briefed by our dear friend Director Zang on the political and economic connections we have established in countries where you are interested in expanding during the coming months and years."
According to the report, Ye responded to Biden Jr, saying that he looked "forward to meeting you in the near future and discussing our joint undertaking".
"If there is anything I could do please do not hesitate to write to me," Fox News quoted Ye as writing. "Please accept my best regards to you and your family."
However, the report outlined that the requested $10 million transfer was never completed. According to the alleged correspondence, that particularly included messages by the President-elect's brother, Jim Biden, the wire was postponed for weeks, purportedly due to "visa issues".
Despite that, a report by the US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs said that CEFC on 8 August 2017 wired nearly $5 million to a bank account for Hudson West III, a company created by Hunter Biden and Chinese associates.
"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. It is unclear whether Hunter Biden was half-owner of Hudson West III at that time", said the report.
The report noted that Hudson West III then sent "frequent payments to Owasco, Hunter Biden’s firm", which "were described as consulting fees".
The alleged correspondence emerged amid Hunter Biden being under a Delaware federal investigation regarding his tax affairs, with Fox News noting, citing unnamed government sources, that Biden Jr is the subject of a grand jury investigation that began in 2018.
The anonymous source told Fox News that the investigation was prompted by Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) "regarding suspicious foreign transactions" and funds from "China and other foreign nations."
The Bidens and the Chinese
When asked about the current federal investigation regarding Hunter Biden, President-elect Joe Biden said that he is "confident" that his son did nothing wrong.
US President-elect Joe Biden has denied any connections to his son's business dealings, insisting at the final presidential debate that he has "not taken a penny from any foreign source ever in my life".
Hunter's former associate Bobulinski, however, said that this was "false", claiming that the former US vice president was "plainly familiar at least at a high level" with the Bidens' business plans with the Chinese.
The final stages of Biden's presidential campaign included the emergence of a so-called 'laptop from hell', purportedly belonging to Hunter Biden, fueling allegations of what may have been a scandalous story regarding Biden Jr mediating lucrative business deals between the Biden family and Beijing.
The story prompted accusations from the sitting president, Donald Trump, who claimed that "China owns Joe Biden" and slammed the Bidens for the allegations that they had received funds from Beijing, something that has been denied by both the government of Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Biden campaign.