President Biden’s niece emailed information about China Investment Corporation (CIC), China’s largest sovereign wealth fund, to Hunter Biden and the chairman of his company while she was working at the US Treasury Department during the Obama-Biden administration.
Casey Owens was working as a special assistant for US-China strategic and economic dialogue at the Treasury Department when she discussed with Hunter and his longtime business partner the CIC, which is state-owned and controlled by the Chinese government. Manages part of the foreign exchange reserves. , Eric Schwerin.
At the time, Hunter’s now-defunct Rosemont Seneca Advisors, where Schwerin served as president, was soliciting CIC for a potential investment.
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On April 12, 2010, Owens emailed Hunter and Schwerin a schedule from the CIC investment conference that had taken place a few weeks earlier.
“Brief on the recent CIC investment conference held at a resort in Sanya on Hainan Island over the weekend of March 27-28,” Owens wrote.
According to the Republican Senate report, Thornton Group’s press release of the same day – April 12, 2010 – stated that the company’s chairman, James Bulger, and Hunter had visited Beijing just three days earlier and met with Gao Ziqing, CIC’s chief investment officer. And met other people. Released in September 2020.
On April 12, 2010, Casey Owens emailed a schedule of the CIC investment conference to Hunter Biden and Eric Schwerin. (Fox News)
A feature article about Owens published months later by the Tower Hill Bulletin stated that he and his team had traveled to Beijing in May 2010 with a US delegation led by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
A photo of Owens in the article shows him receiving a “small jade vase as a birthday gift” from Zhu Guangyao, China’s then-Vice Minister of Finance. According to the website of the Ministry of Finance, its primary function is to implement the decisions and policies of the Chinese Communist Party in the field of public finance.
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The Bulletin article said Owens’ team and Zhu “worked very closely together during the US-China strategic and economic dialogue.”
A few weeks after returning from Beijing, Owens emailed Schwerin a Bloomberg News article about the CIC, titled, “China’s CIC May Post Record Year for 2009 as Markets Recover,” which Schwerin sent. Sent to Hunter on July 23, 2010.
Casey Owens emailed a Bloomberg News article about CIC to Eric Schwerin on July 23, 2010. (Fox News)
Then on August 4, 2010, Schwerin introduced Owens to Meridian Investments Vice Chairman Jack Casey via email, after Schwerin said he had talked with him earlier that day about “GSEs and China.”
“Jack,” Schwerin wrote. “It was nice to see you at lunch today. As for our conversation regarding the GSEs and China, I wanted to put you in touch with Hunter’s cousin, Casey Owens, who is at the Treasury Department and works on strategic economic dialogue. I have CC:ed Casey on this email. Feel free to contact her directly, she looks forward to hearing from you.”
On August 4, 2010, Eric Schwerin introduced Casey Owens to Jack Casey via email. (Fox News)
“Jack, happy to speak at your convenience,” Owens responded the next morning. “Best, Casey.”
Schwerin later forwarded the email thread to Hunter.
Eric Schwerin introduced Casey Owens to Jack Casey via email on August 4, 2010. (Fox News)
A person familiar with Rosemont Seneca’s interest in CIC told Fox News Digital that Owens was possibly giving information to the company to increase the chances of CIC investing in its fund clients. However, the person said he was not aware that the company was making any deal with CIC.
Fox News Digital previously reported that in early 2011, Hunter and his colleagues at Rosemont Seneca discussed making contacts with various state-owned investment funds, including China, Ireland, Oman and Qatar to expand their energy investments Was.
On March 8, 2011, Schwerin sent an email to Hunter and Rosemont Seneca co-founder Devon Archer providing the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute (SWFI)’s current list of the top sovereign wealth funds that are state-owned, and their current holdings at the time. Ranking included.
“Let’s discuss today what else we can do to engage with these groups,” Archer responded, adding that Rosemont was “already working” with several funds on the Seneca list, two of which are in China. Were also involved.
Archer’s March 2011 email to Hunter and Schwerin stated that he was scheduling a meeting with the CIC in April.
“CIC – scheduling a meeting for April 21st,” Archer wrote.
The SWFI list said CIC had assets of more than $332 billion at the time of Archer’s email.
The New York Post previously reported that Hunter and Archer traveled to China and met with the CIC in April 2011.
Then-Vice President Joe Biden, left, and his son Hunter Biden attend a women’s ice hockey preliminary game between the United States and China at UBC Thunderbird Arena in Vancouver, Canada on February 14, 2010. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
On May 10, 2011, just before leaving Treasury, Owens emailed [email protected] with the pseudonym “Uncle Joe”, and he talked about the Vice President’s comments during the inaugural session the day before. . US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue.
“Uncle Joe,” Owens wrote. “Just got home from work and can’t wait to send you an email. Today was truly a memorable day for me. I keep thinking about Mom. Can you imagine her walking us on stage? Sitting in the back together watching? She must have loved it. It makes me nervous. I have so much to learn! It was very, very humbling to sit there with you. I was just overwhelmed. You’re always Makes time to talk to me. Always. But today was really incredible. I still can.’ I trust that you took the time to discuss the issues with me.”
On May 10, 2011, Casey Owens emailed an account under the alias “Uncle Joe” at [email protected]. (Fox News)
“And your comments,” she continued. “That was really something else, Uncle Joe. What a way to get out of the treasury. I’m almost embarrassed by how deeply today has made an impression on me. I’m just happy to be close to you, and I just Wanted to say thank you for including me. Love Casey.”
The “Aux” account later forwarded Owens’ emails to Hunter, Beau Biden, and Owens’ mother, Valerie Biden Owens.
According to Marco Polo, the “Aux” account is another pseudonym used by the then-Vice President and appears in several email exchanges on Hunter’s laptop. “Auks” is the mascot of Archmere Academy, where Biden and his son attended high school.
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Owens, now known as Castello, left Treasury in July 2011 and is currently an executive at Starbucks, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Owens, Casey, Schwerin, Treasury, the White House and lawyers for Hunter did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.
Jessica Chasmer is a digital writer on the politics team for Fox News and Fox Business. Story suggestions can be sent to [email protected].
Source: www.foxnews.com
