Future first son Hunter Biden was tied up in an eyebrow-raising proposal to sell off land around the US embassy in Bucharest, Romania to a group that included a Chinese company — as part of an effort to help a local real estate tycoon beat corruption charges.
The scandal-scarred former first son — whose ties to Romania date back to when his father, Joe Biden, was vice-president — became involved in the proposal after he agreed in 2015 to help the developer, Gabriel Popoviciu, fight criminal charges, according to a forthcoming book by New York Times reporter Ken Vogel.
The would-be land deal, which came about shortly after Biden left office as vice president in January 2017, was floated in an apparent attempt to convince Romanian prosecutors to drop the real estate fraud case against Popoviciu.
The proposed deal centered on Popoviciu potentially handing over a portion of his land holdings around the US embassy to CEFC China Energy — a Beijing-linked firm that paid Hunter and his uncle James Biden millions in 2017 and 2018.
Under one apparent deal structure, CEFC would own as much as 47.5% of the joint venture, according to Vogel’s tome “Devil’s Advocates: The Hidden Story of Rudy Giuliani, Hunter Biden, and the Washington Insiders on the Payrolls of Corrupt Foreign Interests.”
In an effort to sway prosecutors, it was suggested that the Romanian government could go on to collect revenue from the arrangement.
Hunter, now 55, acknowledged being involved in the potential deal in multiple ways — including as Popoviciu’s attorney and as part of the “purchasing group.”
The deal ended up folding in 2017 as Hunter and his partners battled it out.
Hellbound and Down 