Emails Reveal Hunter Biden’s Relationship With Shadowy Chinese Tycoon

Hunter Biden said his business relationship with a mysterious Chinese tycoon later arrested on money laundering charges had "everything to do with my last name," previously unreported emails show.

Biden and his associates met in April 2010 with businessman Che Fung to lay the groundwork for a partnership to invest in companies in China and the United States, according to emails from Biden's abandoned laptop. Other emails show the Biden consortium discussing a deal with Che's company, Ever Union Capital, to invest up to $150 million in partnership with China's sovereign wealth fund. In a Sept. 23, 2011, email to his partner Devon Archer, Biden admitted Che wanted to work with him because of his father, then-vice president Joe Biden.

The emails provide another example of the younger Biden using his family name to further his foreign business interests, undercutting Joe Biden's claims to the contrary. Hunter Biden landed a high-paying position on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings in 2014, just as his father was taking over the Obama administration's Ukraine portfolio. Some of Biden's associates recognized the importance of his family ties to their business deals. One Biden partner touted the "political and strategic value of the Biden family" during 2017 negotiations with a Chinese energy conglomerate.

Che's fate raises the likelihood that Chinese authorities knew of Biden's business dealings. Che, who is reported to be the son-in-law of a former chief of China's central bank, was arrested on Feb. 2, 2015, on charges that he laundered $15 billion. According to one report, Che provided investigators with details of his business activity. It is unclear if he discussed his links to Biden, though the Chinese government would likely have been interested in details of his interactions with the son of an American vice president.