'Spy chief of China' laptop recording sheds light on Hunter Biden's overseas business

Hunter Biden's business ties to men he believes were connected to Chinese intelligence loom large as he faces an investigation into his taxes, overseas business dealings, and possible foreign lobbying.

Records from a copy of Biden's abandoned laptop, which has been obtained and reviewed by the Washington Examiner, show he believed some of his Chinese business partners were connected to Chinese intelligence services and that he worried about the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

The president's son held a lucrative position on the board of Ukrainian energy giant Burisma when his father was vice president. He also pursued business deals in China and elsewhere during and after his father’s tenure and received millions from Chinese government-linked entities. He raked in millions thanks to these associations from 2013 to 2018.

Konstantinos "Gus" Dimitrelos, a cyber forensics expert commissioned by the Washington Examiner to examine the laptop copy, concluded that “there is a 100% certainty that Robert Hunter Biden was the only person responsible for the activity on this hard drive and all of its stored data.”

Located on the laptop was a 47-minute audio recording dated May 11, 2018, in which Biden spoke about his relationship with Patrick Ho, the vice-chairman of the now-defunct Chinese energy conglomerate CEFC. Biden referred to Ho as "the f****** spy chief of China."

“I have another New York Times reporter calling about my representation of the, literally, Dr. Patrick Ho — the f****** spy chief of China who started the company that my partner, who is worth $323 billion, founded and is now missing,” Biden lamented. “The richest man in the world is missing, who was my partner.”

Ho was working for Ye Jianming, chairman of CEFC, as the company pursued business in the United States and around the world.

Dimitrelos examined the audio recording and said it "has not been manipulated and is authentic."

Eight months later, on Jan. 19, 2019, Biden copied the recording to his iTunes and renamed it the "Most Genius S*** Ever." Two days later, Biden played the file at least one time, Dimitrelos added.

Ho was sentenced to three years in prison in March 2019 for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. He was deported to Hong Kong in June 2021 after serving his sentence.

The first call Ho made after his arrest in 2017 was to President Joe Biden's brother, James, who has said he thought the call was meant for Hunter Biden.

Ho agreed to a $1 million retainer with Hunter Biden for “counsel to matters related to U. S. law and advice pertaining to the hiring and legal analysis of any U.S. law firm or lawyer," according to an "attorney engagement letter" located on the hard drive.

Ho had tried reaching out for help because Hunter Biden agreed to represent him as part of his efforts to work out a liquefied natural gas deal worth tens of millions of dollars to Ye, who has since disappeared in China. Chinese state-run media named him in an alleged corruption case in 2018, and China allowed CEFC to go bankrupt.

Hunter Biden said of Ye in the 47-minute recording: “He was missing since I last saw him in his $58 million apartment inside a $4 billion deal to build the f****** largest f****** LNG port in the world ... and I am receiving calls from the Southern District of New York from the U. S. attorney himself.”

Hunter Biden's sister-in-law, Hallie, appeared to reference his meetings in Miami with CEFC in a text she sent one of his children on May 7, 2017. The text was located on a copy of the laptop.

"He is at the hotel still dealing with the Chinese and meetings," Hallie Biden wrote in the text, which was sent about five days after Hunter Biden's former business partner Tony Bobulinski said he met Joe and Hunter Biden in person to discuss the business deal with CEFC.

Bobulinski released a separate trove of WhatsApp text messages in October 2020 not found on the laptop that show the pair discussing business meetings involving Joe and Hunter Biden and CEFC in May 2017.

Hunter Biden said in one of the messages to Bobulinski that they needed to be careful not to engage in any activities that would require them to register as foreign agents.

Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin have accused the Department of Justice of giving them the run-around in response to their requests to the DOJ for all intelligence records tied to C... (Read more)

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