Hunter Biden’s China Dealings: BHR, CEFC, and the Pardon

Hunter Biden’s China dealings centered on two ventures between 2013 and 2018: a Shanghai-registered private equity fund called Bohai Harvest RST (BHR), and an advisory and joint-venture relationship with the Chinese energy conglomerate CEFC China Energy. Together they generated millions of dollars in income for Hunter Biden and members of his family, became the focus of Senate and House investigations and a formal impeachment inquiry into his father, drove the federal tax case he pleaded guilty to in September 2024, and were ultimately swept inside the broad pardon President Joe Biden issued in December 2024.¹

The Shanghai Private Equity Fund: BHR Partners

In 2013, Hunter Biden and two other Americans joined with Chinese investors, including the state-owned Bank of China as a sponsor, to form Bohai Harvest RST. The fund was registered in Shanghai and set up to pursue mergers, acquisitions, and investments involving Chinese state-owned enterprises.² The three American board members collectively controlled 30 percent of the firm; Chinese investors owned or controlled the remaining 70 percent.³

Hunter Biden sat on the board initially without pay. He did not take an equity stake until October 2017, when he invested roughly $420,000 through a limited liability company called Skaneateles for a 10 percent interest.² His name came off the board in April 2020, and in November 2021 his attorney said he no longer held an interest in BHR or in Skaneateles. Chinese business records, however, still showed Skaneateles as a 10 percent owner of BHR as of early 2022.⁴

What BHR Actually Invested In

Three BHR transactions drew most of the scrutiny. In 2015, BHR took a 49 percent stake in the $600 million acquisition of Henniges Automotive, a Michigan manufacturer of anti-vibration technologies with potential military applications. The other 51 percent went to a subsidiary of Aviation Industry Corporation of China, a state-owned defense conglomerate. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States approved the deal during the Obama administration, and Senator Chuck Grassley later questioned whether the review had been shaped by the fact that BHR’s co-founders included the sons of the sitting vice president and secretary of state.⁵

In 2016, BHR helped China Molybdenum acquire the Tenke Fungurume cobalt and copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo, buying a minority stake from Canada’s Lundin Mining for $1.14 billion using funds that one report said “came entirely from Chinese state-backed companies.” BHR sold its stake to China Molybdenum in early 2019, leaving the Chinese firm with 80 percent ownership.⁶ Freeport-McMoRan, which sold the majority stake directly to China Molybdenum, said BHR “did not play a role” in its own sale.⁷

BHR also bought and later sold a stake in CATL, a major Chinese electric vehicle battery maker.³

The December 2013 Beijing Trip

BHR’s formation became politically charged because of its timing. In December 2013, Hunter Biden flew to Beijing aboard Air Force Two with his father and his niece Finnegan. While there, he introduced his father to Jonathan Li, the Chinese banker who ran BHR. Hunter later described the meeting as a social “cup of coffee” and said no business was conducted on the trip.⁸

BHR’s Chinese business license was issued by Shanghai authorities ten days after the trip, a sequence critics seized on.⁹ Hunter Biden’s lawyer countered that the underlying agreement for BHR had been signed back in June 2013 and that formation documents were filed in November. Former National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said White House officials were unaware of Hunter Biden’s private business interests during the visit.⁸

The CEFC Relationship and How Much Money Flowed

Hunter Biden’s second China venture, built around CEFC China Energy and its chairman Ye Jianming, got going in the spring of 2017 after Joe Biden had left the vice presidency. It was far more lucrative than BHR.

On August 2, 2017, Hunter Biden and his uncle James Biden signed an agreement with CEFC associate Gongwen Dong to form a joint venture called Hudson West III. The deal provided Hunter Biden a $500,000 one-time retainer and $100,000 a month, and James Biden $65,000 a month.¹⁰ Six days later, on August 8, 2017, Northern International Capital, a CEFC-affiliated Chinese firm, wired $5 million to Hudson West III.¹¹

The House Oversight Committee later traced how part of that money moved. Of the $5 million, $400,000 went the same day to Owasco P.C., Hunter Biden’s entity; Hunter then wired $150,000 to Lion Hall Group, owned by James and Sara Biden; Sara Biden withdrew $50,000 in cash and deposited it into the couple’s personal account; and on September 3, 2017, she wrote a $40,000 check to Joe Biden with “loan repayment” in the memo line.¹¹ Hudson West III alone paid about $4.79 million to Owasco P.C. over roughly a year, and an NBC News analysis of Hunter Biden’s hard drive concluded that between 2013 and 2018 he and his firm took in about $11 million in total, with $5.8 million of that coming from two Chinese business deals.¹²

A separate wire preceded Hudson West III. On March 1, 2017, State Energy HK Limited, another CEFC affiliate, wired $3 million to Robinson Walker LLC, owned by Biden associate Rob Walker. Over the next three months, roughly $1,065,692 flowed from Walker’s accounts to Biden family members and their companies, including Owasco P.C., entities tied to James Biden, and Hallie Biden.¹³ A spokesperson for Hunter Biden’s legal team called the money “good faith seed funds” from a “legitimate energy company in China,” used to share expenses among family members involved in the business.¹⁴

During this period Ye Jianming also gave Hunter Biden a 2.8-carat diamond after a Miami meeting. Hunter told The New Yorker he thought it was worth about $10,000; attorneys for his ex-wife valued it at $80,000 in divorce proceedings.¹⁵

Patrick Ho and the Collapse of CEFC

The CEFC relationship fell apart quickly. Patrick Ho, a CEFC associate, was arrested at JFK Airport in late 2017 on charges of bribing officials in Chad and Uganda to secure oil rights. He was convicted in December 2018 of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, money laundering, and conspiracy, and in March 2019 sentenced to three years in prison and a $400,000 fine. According to congressional investigators, Ho’s first phone call after his arrest went to James Biden. Hunter Biden then received a $1 million payment from Hudson West III with the memo line “Dr Patrick Ho Chi Ping Representation,” though investigators said it was unclear what legal work he actually performed given that he was not licensed to practice law in New York.¹⁶

Ye Jianming himself was detained by Chinese authorities on suspicion of economic crimes and has not been seen publicly since 2018.¹² The U.S. energy investments CEFC had been pursuing fell through, and Hudson West III was dissolved in November 2018.¹⁷

The “Big Guy” Email and the WhatsApp Message

Two documents from this period became the Republican case that Joe Biden was personally involved.

The first was a May 2017 email from business associate James Gilliar outlining a proposed equity split for the CEFC venture. It listed shares for Hunter Biden, Rob Walker, Gilliar, Tony Bobulinski, and Jim Biden, along with the line “10 held by H for the big guy.” Bobulinski, who became CEO of the resulting venture, testified to Congress that “the big guy” meant Joe Biden.¹⁸ Hunter Biden testified that he did not know what Gilliar meant and that the final agreement for the venture contained no reference to his father. Gilliar told the Wall Street Journal in 2020 that he was “unaware of any involvement at anytime of the former vice president” and that the venture “never delivered any project revenue.”¹⁹

The second was a WhatsApp message Hunter Biden sent on July 30, 2017, to a Chinese business associate: “I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled.” He went on to threaten that “between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge,” the recipient would “regret not following my direction.”²⁰ Congressional investigators identified the recipient as CEFC associate Raymond Zhao and noted that $5 million from a CEFC affiliate landed in Biden-connected accounts shortly after.²¹ Hunter Biden later testified under oath that he was “drunk and probably high” when he sent it and did not know what he was talking about. Joe Biden was out of office at the time.²²

Congressional Investigations and the Impeachment Inquiry

In September 2020, the Senate Homeland Security and Finance Committees under Republicans Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley issued a joint report concluding that Hunter Biden’s dealings with Ye Jianming, Gongwen Dong, and other Chinese nationals linked to the Chinese government and the People’s Liberation Army produced “millions of dollars in questionable transactions” and raised “significant national security concerns.” The report also described a bank account Hunter had opened with Gongwen Dong that funded a “$100,000 global spending spree” involving James and Sara Biden.²³ Democrats and the Biden campaign dismissed the findings as politically motivated.

Starting in 2023, the House Oversight Committee under Chairman James Comer subpoenaed bank records and traced the money flows above. The committee highlighted two 2019 wires from Beijing to Hunter Biden that listed Joe Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, home as the beneficiary address: $10,000 from Wang Xin on July 26, 2019, and $250,000 from Jonathan Li and Tan Ling on August 2, 2019.²⁴ Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, called the $250,000 a “documented loan” and said the address was used because it was Hunter’s only permanent address at the time.²⁵

In December 2023, the House voted 221 to 212 to formalize an impeachment inquiry into President Biden. By the time the inquiry wrapped up, investigators had not established that Joe Biden was directly involved in his family’s business transactions, used his office to help the companies, or received foreign money beyond the contested loan repayments.²⁶ Devon Archer, a former Hunter Biden business partner, testified in July 2023 that Hunter put his father on speakerphone during meetings with foreign associates roughly 20 times, as part of what Archer called “the brand,” but he also acknowledged that Joe Biden discussed only “general niceties” and that he had no knowledge of Hunter influencing his father to change U.S. policy.²⁷

The Federal Tax Case

Hunter Biden’s China income sat at the heart of the federal tax case brought by Special Counsel David Weiss. The indictment alleged he earned $7 million from foreign business dealings between 2016 and 2019, failed to pay at least $1.4 million in federal taxes, and spent nearly $5 million on personal expenses that he falsely claimed as business deductions.²⁸ Income from CEFC and its related entities made up a substantial share of the earnings at issue.²⁹

On September 5, 2024, Hunter Biden entered an open guilty plea to all nine charges — three felonies and six misdemeanors — covering tax evasion, failure to file and pay, and filing false returns. Judge Mark Scarsi told him he faced a maximum of 17 years in prison. His attorneys said the delinquent taxes had since been repaid.²⁸

The Pardon That Closed the Door

On December 1, 2024, days before Hunter Biden’s scheduled sentencing, President Biden issued a “full and unconditional pardon” covering any federal offense his son committed or may have committed between January 1, 2014, and December 1, 2024.³⁰ The grant specifically named the tax case and the Delaware gun case, but its sweep covered the full eleven-year window, effectively shielding Hunter Biden from any further federal charges arising from his China business conduct.¹

Special Counsel Weiss said the pardon prevented him from making any additional charging decisions regarding Hunter Biden’s conduct during that period. Judge Scarsi, acknowledging the pardon, wrote that “nowhere does the Constitution give the President the authority to rewrite history.”³¹

A Later Disclosure: The Romania Embassy Land Deal

In October 2025, the New York Times reported on a previously undisclosed proposal in which Hunter Biden pursued a deal to sell land surrounding the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest, Romania. The proposed transaction involved CEFC China Energy and, under one structure, would have given the Chinese firm up to 47.5 percent ownership of a joint venture controlling land next to the American embassy. Hunter Biden privately told an associate the arrangement was an “ethical quagmire.”³² The deal collapsed in 2017 amid conflicts among the partners. Federal prosecutors had earlier suggested his Romania work left him “vulnerable to a foreign lobbying charge,” but no charges were filed, and the 2024 pardon foreclosed any further federal prosecution for conduct within the covered period.³³

1
NPR. After Promising He Wouldn’t, President Biden Pardons His Son Hunter
2
ABC News. Allegations About Hunter Biden’s Business Dealings in China, Explained
3
The New York Times. Hunter Biden’s Firm Helped Secure Cobalt Mine in Congo
4
Denver Gazette. Hunter Biden Still Listed as Part Owner of Chinese Firm Despite Divestment Claim
5
U.S. Senate Committee on Finance. Grassley Raises Concerns Over Obama Admin Approval of US Tech Company Joint Sale
6
E&E News. Hunter Biden and the Cobalt Mine, Explained
7
Axios. Hunter Biden’s Mine: The Truth
8
NBC News. Biden’s Trip to China With Son Hunter in 2013 Comes Under New Scrutiny
9
BBC. Hunter Biden: What We Know About His Business Dealings
10
U.S. Senate Committee on Finance. Grassley, Johnson Release Bank Records Tying Biden Family to CCP-Linked Individuals and Companies
11
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability. Comer Reveals How Joe Biden Received Laundered China Money
12
NBC News. Analysis of Hunter Biden’s Hard Drive Shows Firm Took in $11 Million From 2013 to 2018
13
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability. Bank Records Memorandum
14
NBC News. House Chairman Questions $1.3 Million in Payments to Hunter Biden and Relatives
15
CNN. Federal Investigators Have Been Examining Hunter Biden’s Tax Affairs
16
House Committee on the Judiciary. Chairmen Jordan and Comer Seek DOJ Documents About Hunter Biden Associates
17
New York Post. Anatomy of a Biden Deal: Hudson West III
18
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability. Key Excerpts From Tony Bobulinski’s Transcribed Interview
19
FactCheck.org. Hunter Biden’s Testimony in Context
20
The New York Times. Hunter Biden Invoked His Father in Bid to Clinch a Deal With a Chinese Energy Firm
21
House Committee on Ways and Means. New Evidence Confirms Hunter Biden’s Statement Regarding WhatsApp Message Was a Lie
22
ABC News. Hunter Biden WhatsApp Message Fuels GOP Assertions of Corruption
23
U.S. Senate Committee on Finance. Hunter Biden, Burisma, and Corruption
24
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability. Comer Reveals Wires From China Have Joe Biden’s Wilmington Home as the Beneficiary Address
25
CNN. House Oversight Republicans Release Bank Records on Hunter Biden
26
FactCheck.org. GOP Misleading Claims in Biden Impeachment Investigation
27
FactCheck.org. Republicans Oversell Archer’s Testimony About Hunter and Joe Biden
28
BBC. Hunter Biden Pleads Guilty to Federal Tax Charges
29
Time. Hunter Biden Tax Evasion Trial
30
U.S. Department of Justice. Executive Grant of Clemency for Robert Hunter Biden
31
U.S. Department of Justice. Report of Special Counsel Weiss
32
The New York Times. Hunter Biden Pursued Romanian Land Deal Involving Chinese Partner Near U.S. Embassy
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New York Post. Hunter Biden Linked to Proposal to Sell Land Around US Embassy in Romania