President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden is in trouble again, according to a new bombshell report.
Dr. Patrick Ho, a former employee of the Chinese firm CEFC, is threatening to sue Hunter for the return of a $1 million he claims was paid in 2017 as a legal retainer.
Ho’s attorneys sent a letter last week to Hunter’s lawyer demanding termination of their agreement and repayment of unused funds within 7 days.
Ho claims he paid Hunter the sizeable sum to represent him following Ho’s 2017 arrest on bribery charges. But beyond calling another attorney, Edward Kim, and a single brief meeting, Ho said that Hunter did no meaningful work on his defense.
“Patrick says he paid him, and that Hunter never did anything for him,” a friend of Ho’s stated. “And that according to the contract, the money should be reimbursed.”
Financial records show the $1 million originated from CEFC’s Hong Kong account before passing through a Hunter-linked firm to his private company Owasco. The contract obligated Hunter to “perform the legal services called for” including court appearances, document drafting, and research. It stipulated the “remaining amount will be reimbursed” if total billings fell below the retainer.
During a 2023 plea hearing, Hunter testified under oath he personally received the payment for representing Ho through his own law practice entity separate from his firm Boies Schiller.
The judge probed his responses.
The New York Post reported:
Under oath, Hunter told US District Judge Maryellen Noreika in Delaware, during his failed plea hearing on July 26, 2023, that he received the $1 million as “payment for legal fees for Patrick Ho,” through “my own law firm.”
Noreika wanted more detail: “Who is that payment received from, was that the law firm?”
Hunter: “Received from Patrick Ho, Your Honor.”
Noreika: “Mr. Ho himself?”
Hunter: “Yes.”
Noreika: “Were you doing legal work for him and apart from the law firm?”
Hunter: “Yes, Your Honor. Well –.”
Sensing danger, Hunter’s lawyer Chris Clark stepped in at this point: “That wasn’t through Boise Schiller, Your Honor, Mr. Biden was engaged as an attorney.”
Noreika: “Right. So that’s why I asked. You were doing work for him –.”
Hunter: “My own law firm, not as counsel.”
Noreika: “So you had your own law firm as well?”
Hunter: “I think Owasco PT acted as a — acted as a law firm entity, yeah.”
Noreika: “Okay.”
Hunter: “I believe that’s the case, but I don’t know that for a fact.”
IRS investigator Joe Ziegler separately testified the funds were “misrepresented” as “legal fees” by prosecutors and their “ultimate purpose was still under investigation.”
Ho’s demand follows Hunter’s Uncle, Jim Biden, recently informing the FBI that CEFC’s chairman was a “protégé” of China’s President Xi – a characterization that reportedly upset Beijing.
CEFC paid Hunter $7.2 million total over 2017-2018, gifted him a $80,000 diamond, and allegedly provided other gems to Hunter’s family. The company’s chairman Ye Jianming was arrested in China on Xi’s orders in 2018 and has since disappeared.
Ho headed CEFC’s UN-credentialed nonprofit arm before his own 2017 arrest. He was convicted in 2019 of bribing African presidents and served three years in U.S. prison prior to deportation.
Ho felt abandoned by Hunter, who never visited him in jail, and now faces Kim’s substantial legal bills alone.
The Horn editorial team