James Biden, younger brother of President Joe Biden, reportedly engaged in business dealings with government officials from Qatar, recent court testimony has suggested, making for the most direct alleged contact between a foreign power and a member of the Biden family.
First reported by Politico on Sunday, reports of James Biden’s Qatari connections arose in a Kentucky bankruptcy court last week after a former business associate provided testimony in an unrelated case. According to fund manager Michael Lewitt, just after Joe Biden left the vice presidency in 2016, his brother collaborated with two firms—the Platinum Group USA and Obermeyer Engineering Consulting—to raise $30 million for the Americore Health hospital chain.
Platinum Group CEO Amer Rustom partnered with Lewitt and Biden directly in the multi-year fundraising operation, and Obermeyer “provided financial backing for a series of loans that a hospital chain paid Jim Biden to arrange.”
Documents submitted alongside Lewitt’s testimony indicate that both companies were either part-owned by or directly tied to the government of Qatar. At the time of the partnership, the tiny, gas-rich nation was under embargo by its Middle Eastern neighbors for allegedly sponsoring international terrorism. To stave off an economic crisis, Qatar began aggressively marketing itself to wealthy, well-connected Westerners, offering gifts in the form of “investment funding.”
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According to Politico, public records indicate that James Biden “invoked his ties to his older brother and sought workarounds to restrictions on international money movements” during the deal-making process.
“My family could provide a wealth of introductions and business opportunities at the highest levels that I believe would be worthy of the interest of His Excellency,” Jim Biden said in a letter to an official at the Qatar Investment Authority. “On behalf of the Biden family, I welcome your interest here.”
The outlet also notes that these transactions were at the center of a recently-settled SEC fraud case and an ongoing federal criminal investigation in Florida, but details about the dealings themselves remain largely unknown.
While James Biden’s work on the Americore Health project was previously known, he had told congressional investigators in February that the fundraising deal stalled once the project was no longer viable. However, Lewitt’s new testimony reveals that the ties between Biden and Qatar were far deeper and lasted far longer than the president’s brother let on.
Lewitt will sit before Congressional investigators in pursuit of the impeachment inquiry against President Biden, but no date has been set for the hearing.
Connor Walcott is a staff writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
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