Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, is still holding a 10 percent stake in a Chinese investment firm despite promises to sue before his father took office in January.
Hunter Biden had said he would resign from Bohai Harvest RST (Shanghai) Equity Investment Fund Management Co.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki reaffirmed the pledge at Friday’s press conference and said Hunter ‘was working to release his investments. ‘
Hunter Biden has yet to sell his 10 percent stake in a Chinese-run investment firm
Hunter Biden, far right, promised in October 2019 that he would not serve on any foreign boards if his father won the 2020 primary election
‘He has been working to release his investment but I would definitely identify you – he is a private citizen – I would identify you to himself or his external lawyers on any update no, ‘said Psaki in response to a question on the subject.
In the last month of his election campaign, President Biden promised that his family would be free from foreign treaties.
‘No one in my family will have an office in the White House, they will sit in on meetings as if they were cabinet members, in fact, they will have a business relationship with anyone who is corporate foreign or foreign country, Joe Biden said in the run – up to the November election.
‘My son, my family will not be involved in any business, any enterprise, which is in conflict or appears to be in conflict, with the appropriate distance from, the leadership and the government,’ he said. during a sit down CNN interview.
President Joe Biden then pledged that his son, Hunter, would not be involved in any potential conflict of interest.
Hunter Biden’s business was in Ukraine, where he sat on the board of the power company Burisma, and also China had exposed his father to political attacks.
During the race for the White House, Hunter’s relationship with the Bank of China-funded equity firm and Ukrainian power firm Burisma Holdings saw his father push over the issues of how he came to be. serves aboard Burisma, one of the largest private natural gas producers in Ukraine.
Hunter Biden promised in October 2019 that he would not serve on any foreign boards if his father won the 2020 primary election.
The brief statement about promising full disqualification from foreign agencies ceased but he resigned from the board of BHR at that time after his father received further scrutiny during his main application.
He also confirmed that he became involved with the company after Joe Biden was no longer vice president under the Obama administration.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki confirmed at a press conference Friday that the president’s son owns 10 percent stake in Bohai Harvest RST (Shanghai) Co. (BHR Partners) – Despite President Biden’s promise in October that his family would be free from foreign contracts
‘Hunter was not involved in the creation or licensing of the company, and held no property while his father was Vice-President,’ lawyer George Mesires said in a statement in 2019 .
He was only a member of its board of directors, and entered based on his interest in seeking ways to bring Chinese capital to international markets. It was an unpaid job, ‘he said.
When BHR was founded in 2013, Hunter Biden joined as an unpaid director.
BHR was funded by the Bank of China, a state-owned entity, as well as other Chinese government finance companies.
In October 2017, after his father resigned, Hunter Biden became a shareholder in BHR, according to ruling filters in China.
He invested $ 420,000 and acquired a 10 percent equity position in BHR Partners.
‘Under the Biden Administration, Hunter readily complies with any guidelines and standards that may be issued by President Biden to deal with conflicts of interest, or the appearance of such conflicts, any restrictions related to overseas business interests, ‘Mesires said. In any case, Hunter agrees not to serve on boards of foreign-owned companies or act on their behalf. ‘
A Senate-led Senate investigation during the Trump administration found no evidence that Joe Biden had influenced U.S. foreign policy to benefit his son.
But a December announcement from Hunter Biden that he was under scrutiny by the federal government over his taxes focused new attention on his foreign contracts.