The president’s brother courted the Chinese energy firm in a ‘life-changing’ deal to sell them a gas facility.
James Biden told the FBI he had presented Chinese investors with a deal to develop a port in Louisiana and when he was interviewed as part of an investigation last year. The Chinese ultimately did not go through with the deal.
The report of the interview was made available after the Republican-led House Ways and Means Committee voted on Wednesday to release a new batch of documents obtained through two IRS whistleblowers.
“James B. recalled that the life-changing meeting was the deal with Monkey Island,” the memo reads (pdf).
IRS special agent Joseph Ziegler, one of the whistleblowers, had been present at the interview and prepared the report along with IRS special agent Christine Puglisi.
Mr. Biden explained in the interview that he had a close personal relationship with his nephew, and his business relationship consisted of minor ventures, beginning when Hunter Biden asked him for hedge fund recommendations after joining a law firm straight out of Yale Law.
Monkey Island Deal
According to the interview Mr. Biden gave in 2022, he was introduced to the Chinese energy firm CEFC by Hunter Biden in 2017.
An executive of the firm, Jianming Ye, referred to as “Chairman Ye” in the memo, had “a very close relationship” with Hunter Biden, and Hunter Biden portrayed him as a “protégé of President Xi” to Mr. Biden.
Monkey Island is a liquid natural gas company that has a 246-acre site in Louisiana, about two miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico.
Mr. Biden said that there was room for a port to be developed, and properties were pre-approved in the project, and the island had a clear passage to offload natural gas. He approached Mr. Ye with the opportunity to buy that energy facility from Monkey Island’s CEO, Greg Michaels.
In the interview, Mr. Biden said he had spoken with the appropriate people in the governor’s office about permits and the deal was supposed to be on a “fast track.” Drills would be built in China and shipped to the port.
By Catherine Yang
