Hunter Biden arranged 2012 call between VP Biden, Whitey Bulger kin before starting China-backed BHR Partners

FIRST ON FOX: Hunter Biden arranged a 2012 phone call between his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, and the family of his business associate James J. Bulger, the late crime boss' nephew who later served with Hunter on the board of a Chinese government-backed company, emails show.

On the day before Thanksgiving in 2012, Hunter reached out to Bulger, who went by "Jimmy" among his friends, to let him know he had been briefed about a potential business deal with a Kazakh tycoon and Prospect Global Resources, a now-defunct potash mining company in Arizona.

"Jimmy - Wanted to wish you and all the Bulgers a Happy Thanksgiving from me and all the Bidens," Hunter wrote on Nov. 21, 2012, according to an email from his infamous abandoned laptop, which Fox News Digital has reviewed and verified. 

"Devon has been keeping me up to date on PGRX too," he added, referring to his former business partner Devon Archer. "Look forward to seeing you soon. Best, Hunter."

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Bulger, the former chairman and president of Thornton Group LLC in Boston, responded by thanking Hunter for arranging a call between "the Bulgers" and Vice President Biden.

"Thanks for the note," Bulger wrote, "happy thanksgiving to all the Bidens!"

"Your dads [sic] call was a huge hit here for the Bulgers," he continued. "[T]hey are still talking about you are [sic] star for putting that together. Have a safe trip to Nantucket!"

"We will have a meeting on the 3rd down in DC and we will bang around the PGRx project and the XCMG deal as well as Bohia [sic] updates," Bulger added. "Have a god [sic] weekend and please let your dad know that he is a star with the whole Bulger clan!"

It is unclear what the phone call was about. Bulger and the White House did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

Less than two months after the phone call, Archer forwarded an email to Hunter that Michael Lin, a close business partner to Bulger, sent to Archer and Bulger with the subject line "BH/RST," which refers to Bohai Harvest RST.

"FYI…update on Bohai potential…a lot of code here so will fill you in on color," Archer said, forwarding Lin's email. It is unclear what the email attachment said.

Bulger is the nephew of the late James "Whitey" Bulger, the notorious Boston crime boss who was captured in 2011 after spending 16 years on the run. At the time of the younger Bulger’s email exchange with Hunter, his uncle was awaiting trial for a slew of murder and racketeering charges. The elder Bulger was sentenced to two life sentences behind bars for 11 murders and other crimes before he died in prison in October 2018. 

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Fox News Digital has previously reported that the younger Bulger played an integral role in Hunter's Chinese business ventures and was in communication with him regularly as early as 2010.

BHR Partners, a Beijing-backed private equity firm controlled by Bank of China Limited, was formed in late 2013 when Bulger’s Thornton Group joined forces with Hunter’s now-defunct Rosemont Seneca Partners to launch its joint-venture with Chinese investment firm Bohai Capital. 

Fox News Digital reported last year that Bulger tried to arrange a meeting with Hunter, Archer and "the Chinese ambassador in DC to talk about the fund" on Jan. 27, 2014, when Joe Biden was serving as vice president.

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Another email, dated July 22, 2014, showed Bulger asking Hunter to introduce his BHR partners to Tung Chee-hwa, a billionaire and first chief executive of Hong Kong who was serving as the vice-chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in 2014. The CPPCC is the "key mechanism for multi-party cooperation and political consultation" under the leadership of the CCP, according to the CPPCC website.

"It is my understanding that during the trip to Beijing that you made with your father, President Xi hosted a welcome dinner," Bulger wrote at the time. "[A]t that dinner, you were seated right next to Mr Tung, therefore J and Andy believe it would be very helpful if you could please send a brief email to Mr Tung laying out that you are a partner and Board Member of BHR and that You would be grateful to Mr Tung if he could meet your local partners to discuss the Fund."

Hunter responded that he was "happy" to fulfill the request but said he could not recall the names of the gentlemen who sat next to him at the dinner.

"Happy to do this," he wrote, "but I have no email address for Mr. Tung and he very well may have sat next to me but I don't recall the two gentlemen's names to my left and right. Regardless, I would suggest the team draft an email in Mandarin and English for my approval ASAP."

Fox News Digital previously reached out to the White House multiple times requesting the seating chart for the Beijing dinner, specifically Hunter's table, but they did not respond.

It appears that the Beijing "welcome dinner" hosted by President Xi that Bulger was referencing in his initial email occurred during the evening of Dec. 4, 2013 after then-Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao met with Vice President Biden earlier in the day to discuss strengthening U.S.-China relations. 

A press release by the Chinese Embassy at the time said Vice President Li held a welcome ceremony for Biden prior to their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square, where the CPPCC’s Tung was also in attendance.

While it is not uncommon for family members to accompany dignitaries to state dinners and other official events, Hunter saying he would be "happy" to help introduce some of his business associates to Tung months after the dinner to help BHR, which he had a stake in at the time, could raise ethical questions.

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In addition to his own business deals, Hunter also involved Bulger in his family’s business matters. Fox News Digital reported in 2021 that John Owens, who is married to Valerie Biden Owens, President Biden’s younger sister, reached out to Hunter in May 2014 for assistance in securing a business license to expand his telemedicine company in China, saying it needed to be "secured very quickly."

Owens, who goes by Jack, emailed Hunter Biden on May 9, 2014, informing him that his companies, MediGuide America and MediGuide Insurance Services International, reached a "serious stage" in negotiations with a China-based insurance company, but said he wouldn’t be able to "seal this deal" without a "Chinese Business License."

Within the hour, Hunter turned to Bulger by forwarding the email to him, writing, "See email below. It's from my Uncle Jack. Is there a way we can help him expedite this? Time is of the essence here."

It is unclear whether Bulger and Lin were able to successfully secure the business license for Owens.

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Fox News Digital previously reported that Bulger and Hunter’s longtime business partner Eric Schwerin, who managed the Biden's family's finances and visited the White House at least 27 times during the Obama administration, did work for the State Legislative Leaders Foundation (SLLF) for a business initiative in China.

In April 2015, Bulger sent a long email to Hunter Biden to discuss his recent visit to Beijing as part of the SLLF advance team in preparation for a program there in late 2015. Bulger referenced a "Henry" spearheading the partnership, which appears to refer to Henry Zhao, the "Vice president of State Legislative Leaders Foundation (SLLF) in the US and the President of the Asia Branch of SLLF," according to his website's bio. The New York Post previously reported that Zhao is a Chinese Communist Party official and CEO of Harvest Fund Management.

"Henry is spearheading this initiative with SLLF in China so I spent the last week with him. Henry is a big supporter of SLLF and he sees this initiative as being of a major diplomatic significance to both the US and China," Bulger wrote. "Henry and Steve Lakis (President of SLLF) asked me if I could help Steve set up a meeting with you when Steve is in DC next. Steve wanted to ask your advice on how to proceed on one aspect of setting up an SLLF office in China."

"[Jimmy], Whatever you need on this just let me know and I'll make it work. Call me tmrw- mid morning works best," Hunter replied.

Fox News Digital also previously reported that Bulger was listed as visiting the White House for a West Wing tour on Aug. 25, 2016. 

White House visitor logs showed Bulger meeting with Anne Marie Person, who previously served as a general assistant at Hunter's Rosemont Seneca Partners investment firm from 2009 until she joined then-Vice President Biden’s staff in 2014.

Six months after Bulger visited the White House, Vice President Biden wrote a college recommendation letter for the son of BHR CEO Jonathan Li after Li reached out to Hunter, Bulger and Archer.

"Gentlmen [sic], please find the attached resume of my son, Chris Li. He is applying the following colleges for this year," Li wrote in an email dated Jan. 3, 2017, listing Brown University, Cornell University and New York University.

"Lets [sic] see how we can be helpful here to Chris," Bulger responded to Hunter and Archer.

Several weeks later, on Feb. 18, 2017, Schwerin, who served as president of Rosemont Seneca Partners, replied to Li, writing, "Jonathan, Hunter asked me to send you a copy of the recommendation letter that he asked his father to write on behalf of Christopher for Brown University," Schwerin wrote.

"The original is being FedExed to Dr. Paxson directly at Brown," he added, referring to the president of Brown University.

In addition to being Whitey's nephew, Bulger is the son of William "Billy" Bulger, who served as president of the Massachusetts State Senate for eight years. Billy Bulger was an ally of John Kerry when he served in the Senate. 

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Kerry’s stepson, Christopher Heinz, co-founded Rosemont Seneca with Hunter and Archer, who is currently facing prison time for defrauding a Native American tribe.

While Hunter has not been considered a suspect in the case against Archer, he was listed as vice president of the company through which the fraudulent bonds were issued, Burnham Financial Group, and Hunter was paid $155,000 during the time the Department of Justice said the crimes occurred, the New York Post reported.

Fox News' Haley Chi-Sing contributed to this report.