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One of Hunter Biden’s business partners was told, “Don’t mention Joe being involved,” during a text-message exchange with a fellow partner regarding a business being formed with Chinese investors, a fresh cache of records revealed Thursday.
The directive came just days after Joe Biden and his brother, Jim, apparently met with the partner who got the warning, Tony Bobulinski, according to Bobulinski’s text messages.
The apparent coverup — which flies in the face of Biden’s repeated denials that he’s ever discussed his son’s business dealings with him — occurred as Bobulinski, Hunter Biden, Jim Biden and two other men were setting up a joint business venture that also involved a since-vanished Chinese energy tycoon in 2017.
“Don’t mention Joe being involved, it’s only when u are face to face, I know u know that but they are paranoid,” James Gilliar instructed Bobulinksi on May 20, 2017, according to a trove of electronic files publicly released.
In response, Bobulinksi wrote, “OK they should be paranoid about things.”
“For real,” Gilliar replied during the conversation using the encrypted WhatsApp messaging service.
It’s unclear who “they” refers to, but in another message sent the same day, Bobulinski told Gilliar, “You need to stress to H, does he want to be the reason or factor that blows up his dad’s campaign, things need to be done right and protective of that fact.”
Those exchanges followed a series of May 2, 2017, text messages apparently tied to Joe Biden’s speech the next morning at the annual Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, Calif.
At 3:56 p.m., Hunter Biden sent Bobulinski a message that said, “Dad not in now until 11-lets me I [sic] and Jim meet at 10 at Beverly Hilton where he’s staying.”
About eight hours later, at 11:40 p.m., Bobulinski sent a message to Jim Biden that said, “Great to meet u and spend some time together, please thank Joe for his time, was great to talk thx Tony b.”
Meanwhile, in between the apparent meeting and the warning to Bobulinski, Gilliar sent a May 13, 2017, e-mail to Bobulinski, Hunter Biden and a fourth partner, Rob Walker, about their formation of a new company.
That e-mail — exclusively revealed by The Post last week — showed the four partners each getting 20 percent shares in the business, with 10 percent going to “Jim” and the remaining 10 percent “held by H for the big guy ?”
In a statement Wednesday, Bobulinski, a former US Navy officer, confirmed the e-mail’s authenticity.
“The reference to ‘the big guy’ in the much publicized May 13, 2017 e-mail is in fact a reference to Joe Biden,” Bobulinski said.
“The other ‘JB’ referenced in that email is Jim Biden, Joe’s brother.”
Written agreements show that Hunter Biden, Jim Biden, Bobulinski, Gilliar and Walker formed a limited liability company called Oneida Holdings and split its ownership among them equally.
The company later entered into an agreement with another firm, called Hudson West IV, for a joint venture, SinoHawk Holdings, with Oneida to provide Hudson with consulting services for projects including infrastructure, energy and financial services.
Documents show the president of Hudson West IV was Gongwen Dong, a reported associate of Ye Jianming, who at the time was chairman of China’s largest private energy company, CEFC China Energy Co.
Ye, who had ties to China’s military and intelligence agencies, disappeared after being taken into custody by Chinese authorities, according to reports.
A July 26, 2017, e-mail from CEFC executive Zhao Runlong to Bobulinski said that “Chairman Ye” and “Director Zang,” an apparent reference to CEFC Executive Director Zang Jian Jun, “fully support the framework of establishing the JV, based on their trust on [sic] BD family.”
Zhao also said that “5 million is lent to BD family in the 10 million charter capital ... This 5 million loan to BD family is interest-free. But if the 5M is used up, should CEFC keep lending more to the family?
If CEFC lends more, they need to know the interest rate for the subsequent loan(s).”
In a statement, Biden spokesman Andrew Bates called the allegations a “pathetic farce” and flatly denied that the 77-year-old candidate had ever been involved in overseas business deals with his family.
Neither Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Jim Biden nor Gilliar immediately responded to requests for comment.
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