Sara Biden: Key Player in Joe’s Foreign Cash Deals
Trouble has followed Sara Catherine Jones since she married into the Biden family almost three decades ago.
Not long after her 1995 wedding to Jim Biden, she took a job with one of his brother Joe’s Senate donors, who later accused her of “fraud” and “unjust enrichment,” according to court records reviewed by RealClearInvestigations. In the years since, she and her husband have been accused of reneging on debts and failing to pay their taxes, court and property records show. Like their nephew, first son Hunter Biden, they have reportedly sold the promise of access to their powerful relative to companies, several of which have gone bankrupt, some of which are tied to foreign countries hostile to the United States.
Now, Sara Jones Biden has emerged as a key figure in the mushrooming Biden foreign influence-peddling scandal.
GOP lawmakers seek to question the 64-year-old licensed attorney as part of their investigation of President Biden for possible impeachable offenses, including bribery. They are especially interested in subpoenaed bank records that include almost a quarter-million dollars in checks Sara Biden wrote to her brother-in-law Joe, conspicuously marking them as “loan repayment.” Republicans want to ask her about the origin of those loans and whether checks “were funded by Biden influence-peddling schemes with China.”
“The Committees require you to provide details of these payments and other related matters,” the chairmen of the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees said in a joint letter they sent to her last month demanding she make herself available for a transcribed interview. In addition, they sent a subpoena to her husband for testimony and information.
Although Hunter and Jim Biden’s questionable business dealings — and their possible blessing from the president — are drawing increasing scrutiny, Sara Biden has drawn little attention until now. But court records and other documents show she has been a central player in the Biden family business for decades. They show how her and her husband’s desire for a lifestyle they could not quite afford has repeatedly led them to form relationships with shady figures and enterprises that often ended in lawsuits and even criminal investigations.
Looming over it all is Joe Biden. Documents recently obtained by government watchdog America First Legal, under a Freedom of Information Act request, reveal that Sara and Jim’s main business, the Lion Hall Group, shows up in more than 3,735 emails generated by the former Vice President Biden’s office. The sheer volume of communications concerning his brother and sister-in-law’s business appears to contradict Biden’s repeated claims over the years that he was never involved in, or even aware of, his family’s business dealings.
A Match Made in Kentucky
Sara Biden’s links to Joe Biden date back to the early 1990s, when she landed a committee job with his close personal friend, Sen. Wendell Ford, a Kentucky Democrat.
“Sen. Ford has been an important part of our family for a long time,” Joe Biden said after Ford died in 2015. “He gave Sara Jones Biden, from Owensboro, Ky., her first job on the Hill when she graduated from Duke Law School, and that’s how she met my brother Jimmy.”
Jimmy and Sara weren’t just sweethearts; they were also business partners — with a taste for high living.
In 1997, Sara and Jim Biden formed consulting firm Lion Hall Group with the help of Joe Biden’s old law partner, David Walsh, who acted as their registered agent, according to incorporation records they filed with the Delaware Department of State.
That same year, they bought an expensive home in the Philadelphia suburbs and struggled to make payments on the $650,000 mortgage, records show, even though a longtime Democratic fundraiser for then-Sen. Biden, Joel Boyarsky, loaned them as much as $200,000. In 1998, the IRS filed its first lien against their home to collect $145,000 in unpaid taxes.
In 2000, they borrowed $353,000 from another Biden donor — Leonard Barrack, a Philadelphia attorney who a few years earlier had agreed to hire Sara Biden at Jim’s urging for $300,000 per year, according to court and other records. Barrack would soon regret helping them out.
According to a lawsuit he filed against Sara Biden four years later, Barrack said Jim had convinced him that by hiring Sara as a partner, the Bidens would be able to attract clients to his law firm through their political connections.
“Jim Biden assured Barrack that he would be able to generate business for the Barrack Law Firm through his family name and his resemblance to his brother, United States Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware,” according to the 2004 complaint filed in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.
Instead, the document said, Sara Biden developed business opportunities for Lion Hall Group, where she served as president, a potential conflict of interest she allegedly never disclosed to Barrack.
The law firm, also known as Barrack, Rodos & Bacine, further alleged that she used its resources, including a travel budget, for personal benefit. The lawsuit said Sara Biden spent almost $250,000 to travel with her husband to Hawaii and Alaska and across Europe, including England, Ireland, France, and Italy. They even brought their son, Nicholas (now 26), and a nanny on some of the “lavish” trips.
“Contrary to Sara Biden’s representations, none of the foregoing trips generated any business for the Barrack Law Firm,” the suit stated. “The Bidens never intended to generate business opportunities for the Barrack Law Firm during their travels, using the trips instead for personal pleasure and to develop opportunities for Lion Hall.”
The couple also allegedly received a total of $500,000 in loans before Sara left the firm in 2003. These salary advances were never repaid, according to the legal complaint. The case, which charged Sara and Lion Hall Group with “fraud,” “unjust enrichment,” and “breach of contract,” was eventually settled. The terms are undisclosed.
Sara Biden did not respond to
The Controversial Ventures of Sara Biden
In the world of politics, scandals and questionable business dealings are not uncommon. Sara Biden, the sister-in-law of former Vice President Joe Biden, has found herself at the center of several such controversies. While she may not be a household name like her famous brother-in-law, Sara’s actions have raised eyebrows and sparked investigations.
One of the earliest instances of Sara’s questionable business practices dates back to her time at the Barrack law firm. Despite claiming to have “co-founded” the firm’s institutional development and claims monitoring program, it was later revealed that she was pursuing other outside interests while allegedly looting the firm.
But that was just the beginning. Sara’s involvement with NorthPoint Communications, a company seeking FCC licenses for telecom development, raised further concerns. She was invited to join the company’s board, along with her nephew Hunter Biden. While it’s unclear if she engaged in any lobbying for NorthPoint, records show that she donated $1,200 to the company’s PAC.
These controversies continued to follow Sara throughout her career. She was retained by a Biden donor to lobby for a bill related to tobacco-related medical claims. However, the deal fell apart when the donor and his associates were indicted on federal bribery charges.
Financial troubles also plagued Sara and her husband. They faced tax liens and struggled to pay off debts, even as they purchased a luxury vacation home in Florida. They relied on the support of wealthy Biden donors to bail them out.
One of the most concerning aspects of Sara’s business dealings involves her connection to her brother-in-law, Joe Biden. Bank records reveal that Hunter Biden sent large sums of money to Sara and her husband’s company, Lion Hall Group. The source of these funds was a Chinese conglomerate tied to Chinese military intelligence.
Questionable Transactions
Bank records show a series of wire transfers from Hunter Biden to Lion Hall Group, totaling $1.4 million. Some of these funds eventually made their way into Joe Biden’s bank account. The timing and nature of these transactions have raised suspicions and led to calls for further investigation.
For example, on August 14, 2017, Hunter Biden wired $150,000 to Lion Hall Group after receiving $400,000 from his joint account with the Chinese conglomerate. Later that month, Sara Biden withdrew $50,000 in cash from the company’s account and deposited it into her personal checking account. She then wrote a check to Joe Biden for $40,000, claiming it was a “loan repayment.”
These questionable transactions continued, with another $200,000 check from Sara to Joe coinciding with a payment of the same amount to her husband from Americore Health. The circumstances surrounding these transactions raise serious concerns about potential corruption and influence peddling.
As investigations into these controversies continue, one thing is clear: Sara Biden’s business dealings have been anything but transparent and above board. The extent of her involvement and the implications for her brother-in-law’s political career remain to be seen.
Who is Sara Biden? Joe’s In-Law Emerges as Central Figure in Foreign Cash Deals
If there were indeed loans between Joe Biden and his sister-in-law, the White House has failed to provide any explanation or details about their terms, such as interest rates. Instead, a White House spokesman dismisses the release of bank records as part of a “smear campaign against the president” by Republican investigators.
Paul Fishman, a lawyer representing Jim Biden, insists that “there is nothing more to these transactions” and that they are completely above board.
However, the wire transfers raised concerns at Hunter’s bank, Wells Fargo. The bank questioned the purpose of the transfers and the recipient, the Lion Hall Group. They noted that Sara Biden, the owner, is a relative and that the address appears to be residential. The bank also inquired about the nature of the business.
Unsatisfied with Hunter’s explanations, Wells Fargo flagged the transactions as potential financial crimes, including money laundering. This prompted the U.S. Treasury Department to issue suspicious activity reports.
When Sara Biden was asked about the large transfers, she claimed they were payments for international consulting work. However, she failed to provide any supporting documentation. As a result, the bank closed the Lion Hall account.
Impeachment investigators have subpoenaed related bank records from Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, HSBC, Cathay Bank, and Wells Fargo.
A Senate report revealed that Jim and Sara Biden also benefited from a $100,000 line of credit opened for Hunter Biden by a CEFC executive in September 2017. Hunter, Jim, and Sara Biden used the credit cards issued to them for extravagant expenses such as plane tickets, hotel rooms, and electronic devices.
House impeachment investigators believe that Sara Biden, acting as a financial conduit, may hold answers regarding whether the president also benefited from Chinese largesse as part of a “foreign influence-peddling scheme.” They are concerned that this could compromise his decision-making and threaten national security. Investigators also want to determine the extent of Biden’s involvement with Sara’s business, the Lion Hall Group, while in office.
Congressional investigators suspect that Lion Hall, incorporated by Joe Biden’s former law partner, was established to launder possible bribes to Joe Biden. They point out that Biden’s Mississippi donor, Joey Langston, funneled nearly $200,000 into Lion Hall for unspecified services while Biden was vice president. Subpoenaed bank records show that Langston began wiring money to Lion Hall shortly after losing his appeal in February 2016. Investigators have requested Langston’s cooperation to explain the nature of these payments.
This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations.
What evidence is there to suggest potential corruption and influence peddling in the large sums of money transferred from Hunter Biden to the Lion Hall Group, and subsequently to Joe Biden’s bank account?
Activity reports (SARs) and launch an investigation into the matter.
The involvement of Sara Biden in these questionable transactions and her connection to her brother-in-law, Joe Biden, has raised serious concerns about potential corruption and influence peddling. The large sums of money transferred from Hunter Biden to the Lion Hall Group, and subsequently to Joe Biden’s bank account, raise suspicions about the source of these funds and the nature of their business dealings.
Furthermore, the timing of these transactions is also troubling. For example, after receiving $400,000 from his joint account with the Chinese conglomerate, Hunter Biden wired $150,000 to the Lion Hall Group. Shortly after, Sara Biden withdrew $50,000 in cash from the company’s account and wrote a check to Joe Biden for $40,000, claiming it was a “loan repayment.” These circumstances raise serious concerns about the possibility of corruption and the influence of foreign entities on the Biden family.
While the White House dismisses these investigations as a Republican smear campaign, the lack of transparency and details surrounding these transactions only fuel suspicions. The White House has failed to provide any explanation or clarification about the loans between Joe Biden and his sister-in-law.
As investigations into these controversies continue, it is imperative that the truth is uncovered and that the American public is made aware of any potential wrongdoing. The implications for Joe Biden’s political career and the integrity of his presidency cannot be taken lightly. The American people deserve transparency, accountability, and a thorough investigation into all aspects of these foreign cash deals involving Sara Biden and her connections to the Biden family.
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