Hunter Biden’s financial dealings and overseas exploits uncovered on the infamous laptop exposed by The Post could possibly be used by prosecutors in their reported tax crimes case against him.
When federal authorities kicked off their probe in 2018, investigators were initially looking at whether Hunter and his associates had violated various tax and money laundering laws amid their dealings in China and other foreign countries.
While it’s not clear exactly what evidence the feds have, the exploits of President Biden’s 52-year-old son are also in the scope of the federal Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
Emails and other records related to Hunter’s various overseas deals, which point to his alleged scheme to sell his father’s influence for millions of dollars to American adversaries, came to light when they were discovered on his abandoned laptop.
Here’s a look at some of the laptop revelations that may potentially come back to bite Hunter:
10% cut for the “big guy” deal
Hunter and his associates had pursued lucrative deals with a Chinese energy company, CEFC China Energy Co, including one that listed a potential cut for then vice president Joe Biden, the emails show.
An email sent to Hunter by one of his business partners, James Gilliar, on May 13, 2017 had outlined the “remuneration packages” for six people involved in an unspecified business venture with the Chinese conglomerate.
The plan included a proposed 10% share passed through Hunter for “the big guy” — a reference that Hunter’s former business partner, US Navy veteran Tony Bobulinksi, has since claimed refers to Joe Biden.
Hunter, who was identified as “Chair / Vice Chair depending on agreement with CEFC,” had his pay pegged at “850,” according to the email.
The email also outlined a “provisional agreement,” which would see 80 percent of the shares in the new company split equally among four people. The initials of the four people corresponded to the email sender and three recipients — with “H” apparently referring to Hunter.
$10 million for “introductions alone”
Hunter also sent an email on Aug. 2, 2017 regarding a deal he had struck with the since-vanished chairman of CEFC, Ye Jianming, over the 50/50 split ownership of a holding company expected to rake in over $10 million a year for Biden’s son.
He wrote that Ye — who hasn’t been seen since being taken into custody by Chinese authorities in 2018 — agreed to a three-year consulting contract with CEFC that would pay Hunter the hefty annual sum “for introductions alone.”
“The chairman changed that deal after we me[t] in MIAMI TO A MUCH MORE LASTING AND LUCRATIVE ARRANGEMENT to create a holding company 50% percent [sic] owned by ME and 50% owned by him,” Hunter wrote in the email.
“Consulting fees is one piece of our income stream but the reason this proposal by the chairman was so much more interesting to me and my family is that we would also be partners inn [sic] the equity and profits of the JV’s [joint venture’s] investments.”
The emails were sent by Hunter to Gongwen Dong — the CFO of Hong Kong-based investment firm Kam Fei Group.
A $1 million retainer
An “Attorney Engagement Letter” executed in September 2017 was also uncovered from the laptop that promised Hunter a $1 million retainer.
One of Ye’s top aides, former Hong Kong government official Chi Ping Patrick Ho, had offered Hunter the hefty retainer for “Counsel to matters related to US law and advice pertaining to the hiring and legal analysis of any US Law Firm or Lawyer.”
Ho was later convicted by a Manhattan federal jury in 2018 over two schemes to pay $3 million in bribes to government officials in Chad and Uganda. He ended up serving a three-year prison sentence and was deported from the US to Hong Kong in 2020.
$1 million a year to sit on a Ukrainian board
Burisma Holdings Ltd., the Ukrainian energy company, had paid Hunter $83,333 a month to sit on its board from May 2014, invoices on the laptop show.
While he was being paid the hefty figure, Hunter introduced Burisma executive Vadym Pozharskyi to his father — who was then-vice president — at a dinner in Washington, DC, in April 2015.
Less than a year later, Biden flew to Ukraine to strong arm government officials into firing a prosecutor who was investigating Burisma at the time.
Biden has said in the past that the prosecutor wasn’t doing enough to crack down on corruption — and that the push wasn’t related to Hunter’s position.
Then, two months after Biden ceased to be vice president, Hunter’s monthly compensation from Burisma was cut in half.
Pozharskyi had informed Hunter of the cut in a March 19, 2017 email that said “the only thing that was amended is the compensation rate.”
The amount listed on Hunter’s Burisma-related invoices was subsequently reduced to $41,500 from May 2017.
A 2.8-carat diamond gift
A diamond once given to Hunter by Ye Jianming — the since-vanished CEFC chairman — was previously examined by investigators as part of the ongoing tax probe, according to a CNN report from 2020.
Emails from Hunter’s laptop show that the sparkler had become a sticking point during his divorce from first wife Kathleen Buhle.
In August 2017, her lawyer demanded proof it was “in a safety deposit box — accessible only by both parties together” and threatened to seek an emergency injunction against Hunter “to enjoin his further dissipation of assets, including the diamond.”
Hunter had told The New Yorker that he got the jewel from the then-CEFC chairman following an introductory dinner meeting in Miami amid Biden’s divorce.
Buhle had estimated in court papers that the diamond was worth $80,000, but Hunter put its value closer to $10,000.
Pursuing deals with Mexican billionaire
Hunter also pursued potential deals with Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim when his father was still in office, according to records on the laptop.
He got involved with Slim after attending a State Department luncheon that the Mexican magnate was also at in May 2010, the diary on his laptop shows.
In the wake of that luncheon, Hunter made annual trips to Mexico between 2012 and 2015. He also held in-person and video conference meetings with Slim’s sons, Carlos Jr. and Tony Slim, between 2011 and 2015. The laptop doesn’t shed light on what, if anything, may have developed from those encounters.
According to emails on the laptop, Hunter’s uncle Jim had emailed him on May 7, 2015 about a possible deal involving Slim and Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) – a Mexican state-owned oil and gas firm.
“Have a very real deal with Pemex (Carlos Slim) need financing literally for a few days to a week,” Jim wrote in the email. “Have the seller (refinery /slims) and buyer major being delivered from pipeline in (h/ USA) Nothing is simple but this comes very close. As always the devil is in the detail! Any interest on the long skirts part?”
Hunter and his business partner Jeff Cooper were hoping to secure Slim money for an online gaming company, Ocho Gaming, and digital wallet firm, ePlata, that Cooper ran. Hunter had a 5.25% stake via his law firm, Owasco PC.
$142K Fisker sports car scrutinized
Separate from evidence found on the laptop, prosecutors are reportedly also examining Hunter’s 2014 purchase of a $142,000 plug-in hybrid sports car from Fisker Karma.
The Fisker Automotive start-up company had previously received a massive Obama administration loan touted by then-vice president Biden to help convert an abandoned General Motors factory for a planned line of family-oriented electric vehicles.
But Fisker went bankrupt in 2013 after receiving $192 million in federal loan payments, the Wall Street Journal reported in March.
Boasting ties to White House and China
Hunter’s business contacts touted his access to his father, “State, Treasury,” his relationship with then-Secretary of State John Kerry’s stepson, as well as his ties to the “highest level” in China, as they weighed whether to work with him on a potential Libya deal in 2015, emails unrelated to the laptop show.
The emails, obtained by Insider, date back to 2015 and reference getting Hunter’s help on a deal regarding billions in Libyan assets frozen by the Obama administration.
In the first email, dated Jan. 28, 2015, Democratic donor Sam Jauhari repeatedly referred to Hunter as “#2 son” — an apparent reference to Joe Biden’s VP role at the time — and noted that Hunter had requested a $2 million retainer.
The business contact listed a string of positives to working with Hunter, including his business relationship with Kerry’s stepson Chris Heinz and Hunter’s apparent self-proclaimed high-level access in China.
“Per phone conversation I met with #2 son. He wants $2 per year retainer +++ success fees. He wants to hire his own people – it can be close circle of people for confidentiality. His dad is deciding to run or not,” the email said.
“His positives are he is Chairman of UN World Food Program, son of #2 who has Libya file, access to State, Treasury, business partner SofS [Secretary of State] J. [John] Forbes K [Kerry] son and since he travels with dad he is connected everywhere in Europe and Asia where M. Q. [Muammar Qaddafi] and LIA [Libya Investment Authority] had money frozen. He said he has access to highest level in PRC [China], he can help there.”
Hunter and Heinz founded Rosemont Seneca Partners, a billion-dollar private equity firm, back in 2009. Their business dealings soured when Hunter opted in 2014 to join the Burisma board.