According to a recent bombshell report by the New York Times, an investment firm that counts Hunter Biden amongst its founders recently helped a Chinese company purchase one of the world’s most lucrative cobalt mines from an American company.
At the time, his father, Joe Biden, was vice president.
The report has been ignored by the news media, including MSNBC, CNN, CBS, ABC, and NBC, receiving zero coverage according to the news agencies’ transcripts.
News about business ties between a foreign entity to the president’s son should have received wall-to-wall coverage by print and news media.
The situation has renewed concerns about potential conflicts of interest whether or not the now-president had any knowledge about Hunter Biden’s business dealings, which he has previously denied.
Coverage of the younger Biden’s business dealings, including during the final weeks of the 2020 presidential election, has been minimal to none.
The New York Times alleged that Hunter Biden established the firm Bohai Harvest RST Equity Investment Fund Management Company with Chinese partners and two other Americans in 2013.
The American members served on the board and controlled 30% of the Shanghai-based operation.
The company completed a deal in 2016 that saw a Congo copper and cobalt mine transfer from American company Freeport-McMoRan to the Chinese organization China Molybdenum for $2.65 billion.
Under scrutiny
In the deal, BHR served as a minority stakeholder to purchase around $1.14 billion in shares from Lundin Mining of Canada, which owned a portion of the mine in Congo.
China Molybdenum was then able to purchase BHR’s shares of the mine two years later. The resulting deal gave China Molybdenum 80% ownership of the mine, while Congo’s state mining enterprise owns the remaining portion.
The Times report states that Biden controlled 10 percent of BHR through Skaneateles LLC, a company based in Washington.
According to Chris Clark, a Biden lawyer, Hunter Biden “no longer holds any interest, directly or indirectly, in either BHR or Skaneateles.”
According to Chinese records, Biden was not a member of the board as of April 2020. However, business records reviewed in April 2021 showed that Hunter Biden continued to hold a 10% stake in a Chinese private equity firm Bohai Harvest RST Equity Investment Fund Management Co., through Hunter Biden’s company Skaneateles, LLC.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki brushed off questions about Hunter Biden’s business dealings, saying, “He has been working to unwind his investment, but I would certainly point you — he’s a private citizen. I would point you to him or his lawyers on the outside on any update.”
Hunter Biden’s business ties remain of interest to scrutiny, particularly his activity in China.
President Biden has previously warned of China’s growing dominance of cobalt as a roadblock to America’s attempts to shift from gas to electric cars since cobalt is the critical ingredient in electric car batteries. The president and his administration have been longtime supporters of electric vehicles.
