President Donald Trump commuted the prison sentence of former Hunter Biden business partner Jason Galanis for orchestrating fraudulent bond sales to a Native American tribe and defrauding shareholders of a reinsurance company.
Trump ordered acting director of the Bureau of Prisons William Lothrop to “to immediately release” Galanis on March 28, prematurely ending his 15 year prison sentence at a facility in Montgomery, Alabama.
Galanis becomes the second former business partner to be granted clemency after Devon Archer, who was facing a year and a day in prison for his participation in the tribal bond scheme. Hunter Biden was never prosecuted over the bond scheme despite his connections to the deal.
Last year, Galanis gained prominence when he testified as part of the House GOP’s impeachment inquiry into then-President Joe Biden that focused primarily on Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings during and after Joe Biden’s vice presidency.
Galanis claimed Joe Biden helped his son close lucrative business deals with Chinese and Russian associates and described the “Biden lift” provided by Hunter’s access to his powerful father. For instance, Galanis recounted a call where Hunter Biden asked him to help finalize a deal with Burnham & Co., a financial services firm Biden and his associates sought to turn into a billion dollar company, and Harvest, a Chinese financial services company allegedly linked to the Chinese Communist Party.
Another instance Galanis recalled was when Hunter Biden put his father on a May 2014 call with Russian oligarch Yelena Baturina, an investor in Rosemont Realty, the real estate portfolio headed by Devon Archer.
Days later, Baturina committed to investing $10-20 million with a client of Burnham & Co., Galanis said. Archer previously testified that Rosemont Realty was outside of Hunter Biden’s business portfolio.
Archer did recall Baturina meeting Joe Biden at a spring 2014 dinner at Cafe Milano, an upscale restaurant in Washington, D.C.’s Georgetown neighborhood. Around that time, Baturina wired $3.5 million to a holding company linked to Biden and Archer, bank records show.
Over $2.7 million of those funds were sent to Rosemont Seneca Bohai, an account Biden and Archer used to receive foreign payments. When testifying, Biden denied any link to the Bohai account, before whistleblower documents were released showing he was acting corporate secretary of the company.
Beyond that, Galanis suspected the Southern District of New York intentionally protected Hunter Biden from prosecution over the tribal bond scheme. Galanis further alleged he was subject to retaliation from the Justice Department over his claims about Hunter Biden and his plans to come forward to congressional investigators.
His testimony was largely overshadowed by more explosive allegations from Archer and business partners. Testimony from two IRS whistleblowers and a mountain of emails, bank records, texts, and other evidentiary documents were also important for building out the investigation.
The House GOP’s impeachment inquiry ultimately found more than $27 million in payments from foreign sources to Hunter Biden and his business partners. The payments came primarily from Ukrainian, Chinese, and Romanian businesses and individuals during and after Joe Biden’s vice presidency.
Joe Biden pardoned Hunter Biden in December ahead of his sentencing dates on federal gun and tax charges. Biden was convicted on the gun charges in June and plead guilty to the tax charges in September, rather than going to trial.
The pardon covered any potential crimes Hunter Biden may have committed from January 2014 to December 2024, making it one of the most sweeping pardons in American history. Special counsel David Weiss prosecuted the younger Biden on both sets of charges as the Biden impeachment inquiry drew a flurry of headlines last year.
On the last day of his presidency, Joe Biden pardoned other members of his family to protect them from potential prosecutions by the Trump administration.