Lawmakers investigating the Biden family’s foreign business deals say family members received millions of dollars in payments from foreign nationals while President Biden was serving as vice president in the Obama administration.
The information, discovered in bank documents obtained by Republican investigators, showed the Biden family and their business associates used a “complicated, suspicious,” web of 20 companies to launder $10 million in payments from foreign nationals, and many of the transactions took place while Mr. Biden was vice president, lawmakers said.
The companies were based in Romania and China, among other countries, and several business associates who paid the Bidens had close ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
“From a historical standpoint, we’ve never seen a presidential family receive the sums of money from adversaries around the world,” said House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer, Kentucky Republican.
The web of Biden family companies, or LLCs, were discovered by Republicans who scoured four Biden family bank accounts. The companies were used in what investigators say was a complex money-laundering scheme that filtered money to nine Biden family members, including some of the president’s grandchildren.
The lawmakers did not provide hard evidence that President Biden was involved in any of the transactions, but said the business deals involved locations where Mr. Biden was “leading the United States’s effort in these countries.”
The findings also contradict statements from the president, who said his family did not receive any money from China.
Mr. Biden denies knowing about the business deals or having any involvement in them.
Rep. Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican and the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said lawmakers have not been able to determine why the Biden family and their associates were provided the millions of dollars from foreign entities.
“What was the business and what service did they provide? What value did they add? What did they do to warrant receipt of the money? That is the fundamental question, and no one seems to have an answer to that fundamental question,” Mr. Jordan said.
Democrats have dismissed the investigation and said it is aimed at damaging President Biden politically.
Mr. Comer said the family business deals, which also provided money to Hunter Biden’s girlfriend and wife, capitalized on Mr. Biden’s public office and put national security at risk.
The panel is awaiting a response from the FBI after Mr. Comer requested that FBI Director Christopher Wray turn over a whistleblower complaint by Wednesday. It alleges that President Biden was more involved and at one point accepted money from a foreign national while serving as vice president.
Mr. Comer said his panel is at “the beginning stages,” of the investigation and that up to a dozen banks are involved.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.