House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) announced Friday that the committee has obtained bank records revealing a shady direct payment to Joe Biden from his younger brother James Biden.
In 2017 and 2018, James Biden ventured into health care investing “based upon representations that his last name, ‘Biden,’ could ‘open doors’ and that he could obtain a large investment from the Middle East based on his political connections.”
In September of 2017, Grant White, the founder of Americore Health, bought tickets to a fundraiser for the Beau Biden Foundation, an event that featured Joe Biden. Americore Health, a financially distressed rural hospital operator, is one of the health care companies James Biden was courting at the time.
According to Comer, James Biden received a total of $600,000 in loans from Americore in 2018.
On March 1, 2018, James Biden received a $200,000 loan from Americore, according to bankruptcy court documents obtained by the House Oversight Committee.
Comer revealed that James Biden wrote a $200,000 check from this personal bank account to Joe Biden that very same day.
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) October 20, 2023
Americore, a failing company in need of political favors, loaned $200,000 to James Biden, who immediately sent that exact amount to Joe Biden. It wasn’t immediately clear if James Biden ever paid back the loan.
James Biden allegedly wrote this check to Joe Biden as a personal loan repayment, the Kentucky congressman noted. But the congressman is not convinced this is true and is demanding proof that he lent the large sum of money to his brother.
“Even if this was a personal loan repayment, it’s still troubling that Joe Biden’s ability to be paid back by his brother depended on the success of his family’s shady financial dealings,” Comer explained.
Americore at the time was facing mounting legal problems related to its failure to pay employees at its Ellwood City, Pennsylvania hospital.
In January 2019, the Lawrence County District Attorney’s Office opened a criminal probe and the U.S. Department of Labor undertook its own probe.
In January of 2020, the FBI raided Americore, seizing boxes of documents, Politico reported that March. There were concerns at the time that James Biden had fraudulently transferred Americore funds “outside of the ordinary course of business.”
In the weeks since the raid, two small medical firms that did business with James Biden have claimed in civil court proceedings to have obtained evidence that he may have fraudulently transferred funds from Americore “outside of the ordinary course of business,” and a former Americore executive has told POLITICO that James Biden had more than half a million dollars transferred to him from the firm as a personal loan that has not yet been repaid.
A former Americore executive explained to Politico how James Biden had conned the company and “exacerbated” its financial problems.
Tom Pritchard, a former Americore executive familiar with the business’ finances, told POLITICO that James Biden’s arrival exacerbated Americore’s financial problems. Holding out the promise of a large investment from the Middle East based on his political connections, James Biden introduced Americore’s founder to his older brother and helped land a bridge loan to Americore from a hedge fund, Pritchard said. But then, Pritchard said, James Biden received a six-figure personal loan out of Americore’s coffers while encouraging the firm to take on greater financial liabilities. The cash infusion from the Middle East never arrived, and, Pritchard says, James Biden has not paid back the loan, the terms of which are unknown.
“It was all smoke and mirrors,” Pritchard said.
A Biden campaign official told Politico in March of 2020 that Joe Biden never discussed Americore with his brother or expressed support for the business.
The official also said that there was nothing to the September 2017 fundraiser attended by Americore’s founder and Joe Biden. “If the two interacted in any way, it would have been a handshake and nothing more,” he told Politico.
While the nature of James Biden’s business relationship with Americore was unclear, Pritchard and another Americore executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation, told Politico that he was actively involved in the company during their tenures there.
“Jim was operating as a principal or Jim was portraying that,” Pritchard said. “Whether on paper he had any ownership, I’m not 100 percent sure.”
Pritchard said James Biden first became involved with Americore in 2017, offering to use his political contacts to help the firm land business and investments. “He could get us in front of the unions. He could get us in front of certain people in government. He could get us in front of the right people,” recalled Pritchard, who told Politico he was skeptical of plans to involve James Biden in the firm.
Pritchard said that after James Biden received his loan payment from Americore, James reduced his involvement with the firm as its financial difficulties mounted.
“Jim needed to lay low because his brother was possibly running for president, and he didn’t need any bad press,” Pritchard recalled, saying that after James stepped back, Lewitt asked to review Americore corporate documents to ensure they did not bear James’ name.
The other former executive said that not long after he first saw the office being set up for James Biden in mid-2018, the office was emptied out.
Chairman Comer released a video Friday outlining the suspicious direct payment.
“This summer, Joe Biden said: ‘Where’s the money?” Comer recalled. “Well, we found some.”
The congressman said Joe Biden must answer the following questions for the American people.
Does he have documents proving he lent such a large sum of money to his brother and what were the terms of such financial arrangement?
Did he have similar financial arrangements with other family members that led them to make similar large payments to him?
Did he know that the same day James Biden wrote him a check for $200,000, James Biden had just received a loan for the exact same amount from business dealings with a company that was in financial distress and failing?
Comer said the House Oversight Committee will soon announce its next investigative actions and continue to follow the money.
“The bank records don’t end here,” he said. “There is more to come.”
🚨 BREAKING 🚨
We have found a $200,000 DIRECT payment to Joe Biden.
@RepJamesComer lays out the money trail. 👇 pic.twitter.com/0vq3lqhRHz— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) October 20, 2023
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