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WASHINGTON — First son Hunter Biden’s former business partner Devon Archer asked a federal judge Wednesday to shorten his one-year sentence for defrauding a Native American tribe — arguing there was an error in the initial calculation and that his cooperation in investigations of the first family warrants a further reduction of his penalty.
Archer worked closely with Hunter, 54, on foreign business dealings during Joe Biden’s vice presidency and provided explosive testimony to the House Oversight Committee in July implicating now-President Biden in many of his son’s overseas relationships.
“Before setting a report date for Mr. Archer, we respectfully request that the Court instead first take up the undisputed Guidelines calculation error from his sentencing, grant him habeas relief, and proceed to resentencing,” Archer attorney Matthew Schwartz wrote to Manhattan federal Judge Ronnie Abrams, citing an “undisputed … two-level reduction” due to the fact that Archer played a “minor role” in uncharged conduct.
The filing adds that Archer, a 49-year-old father of three, has performed “substantial civic duties” by turning state’s evidence in investigations of alleged Biden family corruption.
“For the foregoing reasons, Mr. Archer respectfully requests that the Court grant Mr. Archer habeas relief, vacate his sentence, and proceed to immediate resentencing after giving the parties an opportunity to submit supplemental sentencing memoranda that would permit the Court to take into account Mr. Archer’s changed circumstances since Mr. Archer’s February 28, 2022 sentencing,” Schwartz added.
“This updated submission is necessary to address the substantial civic duties Mr. Archer has undertaken in the two years since the previous sentencing, including Mr. Archer’s extensive cooperation with federal investigators, continued fundraising for multiple non-profit organizations, and sustained support for equal opportunity youth sports.
“Among other things, Mr. Archer met with prosecutors from the District of Delaware and Main Justice and testified before a grand jury there in connection with the investigation of Hunter Biden (and presumably will be called as a witness in the ongoing prosecution of Mr. Biden, should it proceed to trial), and he also
voluntarily testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability regarding its investigation into the Biden family’s domestic and foreign business dealings.
Schwartz concluded: “The Court should consider, in any resentencing, Mr. Archer’s changed circumstances and continued and good-faith participation with various governmental investigations, as well as his continued commitment to charitable and educational causes, and of course his flawless record on pretrial release over the course of nearly eight years.”
A federal jury convicted Archer of two felonies in June 2018 for taking part in selling more than $60 million in fraudulent bonds for an Oglala Sioux tribal entity in South Dakota. In addition to prison time, Archer was ordered to forfeit $15.7 million and pay restitution of $43.4 million.
Archer and two other Burnham Financial Group executives were convicted by a jury of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and securities fraud. Hunter Biden was vice chairman of Burnham and earned up to $200,000, but was not charged over the scheme.
Archer’s conviction was overturned in November 2018 by Abrams, who ruled there wasn’t enough evidence against him while upholding the convictions of his two co-defendants. The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated Archer’s conviction in 2020.
Archer last year revealed substantial information about President Biden’s alleged role in his family’s foreign relationships that contradicted the commander-in-chief’s frequent claims that he was uninvolved in Hunter or first brother James Biden’s dealings.
Among other evidence, Archer released a letter he received from Joe Biden in 2011 thanking him for attending a Chinese state lunch in Washington and expressing satisfaction that Archer was going into business with his son.
Archer also testified to Congress that he was aware of Joe Biden being on speakerphone for about 20 of Hunter’s foreign business meetings.
Archer also said Joe Biden had coffee with Chinese government-linked businessman Jonathan Li during an official vice presidential trip to Beijing in December 2013. The interaction previously was reported as a quick handshake.
Hunter Biden, who joined his dad on the 2013 trip, launched Beijing-backed investment fund BHR Partners with Li as CEO just 12 days after arriving in China, the Wall Street Journal reported. Hunter held a 10% stake in the company through at least part of his father’s first year as president.
Joe Biden greeted Li on the phone during a subsequent Hunter trip to China, Archer said — in addition to writing college recommendation letters for Li’s two children.
Joe Biden, as VP, also joined two separate dinners at DC’s Cafe Milano — in 2014 and 2015 — with his son’s Kazakhstani, Russian and Ukrainian patrons, Archer said. Only one of those meetings was known prior to Archer’s testimony and the witness dismissed claims that Joe Biden only appeared briefly.
Dinner guests included former Moscow first lady Yelena Baturina, who transferred $3.5 million to a Hunter Biden-linked entity in early 2014 and separately invested $100 million with Archer’s Rosemont Realty, with which Hunter Biden also was briefly associated.
Kazakhstani businessman Kenes Rakishev, who purchased the then-second son a $142,000 sports car, also dined with Joe Biden and posed for a group photo with him.
Vadym Pozharsky, board adviser to Ukrainian gas company Burisma, which paid Hunter up to $1 million per year beginning in 2014 when his father assumed control of US policy toward Ukraine, wrote Hunter an email the day after the 2015 dinner thanking him for the opportunity to meet his father.
Archer further revealed that Hunter Biden stepped away from a gathering at the Four Seasons in Dubai in December 2015 to “call DC” with Burisma owner Mykola Zlochevsky and Pozharsky — shortly before the vice president abruptly threatened to deny a $1 billion US loan guarantee to Kyiv as leverage to force the ouster of Ukrainian Prosecutor-General Viktor Shokin.
A paid FBI informant reported that Zlochevsky said in 2016 he had to pay $10 million in bribes to the Bidens in exchange for help with Shokin’s removal.
Archer testified that he had no knowledge of Burisma execs wanting to oust Shokin and didn’t know about the alleged bribe, but speculated that Zlochevsky was referring to the approximate amount paid to himself and Hunter during their tenure on the board.
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Archer’s testimony to Congress spurred Republicans to launch a formal impeachment inquiry in September, which has compelled additional testimony from participants in other Biden family dealings — including associate Rob Walker, who distributed proceeds to Hunter and James Biden from relationships with a Romanian businessman convicted of corruption and since-defunct Chinese government-linked CEFC China Energy.
Walker testified last month that Joe Biden met with CEFC Chairman Ye Jianming in Washington in or around March 2017 and that a transfer of about $1 million that month to Hunter and James Biden was compensation for work with the company during the Obama-Biden administration, according to Republicans familiar with his testimony.
CEFC, a reputed cog in Beijing’s “Belt and Road” foreign influence campaign, later that year transferred $5.1 million to Biden family-linked accounts within 10 days for a threatening text message in which Hunter warned a China-based associate that he was “sitting here with my father” and warned of retribution if a business agreement was not fulfilled.
Hunter Biden is scheduled to stand trial in Los Angeles beginning June 20 for allegedly failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes between 2016 and 2019 on foreign income. He faces separate federal gun charges in Delaware after walking away in July from a probation-only plea deal over courtroom demands for immunity for past conduct, including alleged violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which could implicate his father.
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