In 2018, a money laundering investigator warned of unusual and erratic payments Hunter Biden received from the Chinese government.
At the time, Hunter Biden, the son of former US Vice-President Joe Biden, was working as a vice-chair of the Burisma Group, a Ukrainian oil and gas company owned by the Ukrainian oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky.
The investigator, Kenneth McCallion, noticed the payments had been coming into the United States from the Chinese government through an offshore account in Cyprus, where Burisma had a foothold. He became concerned and alerted authorities about the suspicious activity, fearing it could be used to launder money.
McCallion’s warning was never acted upon. However, it has come to light that Hunter Biden did indeed receive significant payments from the Chinese government in the form of wire transfers to accounts in the United States.
The payments, which totaled millions of dollars, were made over a two-year period from 2017 to 2019. While it is unclear why the Chinese government was paying Hunter Biden, many political experts have speculated that the payments were part of a larger political strategy by the Chinese government to gain influence in the United States.
The news of the questionable payments has raised alarm among political observers, who fear that Hunter Biden was using his political connections to benefit financially. There are also concerns that the Chinese money was used to influence US foreign policy decisions.
The Biden administration has since said that Hunter Biden had no involvement in his father’s work and that he was solely engaged in business activities that were “entirely appropriate and lawful”.
The FBI and other US law enforcement agencies are currently investigating the payments and whether there were any criminal activities involved. It remains to be seen whether any charges are brought against Hunter Biden or anyone else in connection with the Chinese payments.