Court gets swing at Bidens’ pal
Devon Archer, Hunter Biden’s former business partner, best friend, and fellow Yale alum, finally will be sentenced later this month, which could put an end to the jetsetting lifestyle he’s indulged in while on bail.
Archer, 47, lost his appeal to the Supreme Court in December to have his 2018 criminal conviction overturned, relating to a
$60 million scheme to defraud a Native American tribe.
The president’s son never was charged over the fraud and was not alleged to have been involved. But the court heard that his name was used as a selling point, and he was described in promotional brochures as a vice chairman for Burnham Financial Group, the firm at the center of the scam.
Unlike Archer’s pals Bevan Cooney and John Galanis, who were tried alongside him in 2018 and jailed, Archer had his conviction overturned by US District Judge Ronnie Abrams.
Judge Abrams, an Obama appointee married to Mueller special counsel prosecutor Greg Andres, said she was “left with an unwavering concern that Archer is innocent of the crimes charged.”
Her decision was reversed on appeal and Archer’s last port of call was the Supreme Court.
In the middle of his legal woes, Archer complained to Hunter about his predicament.
“Why did your dad’s administration appointees arrest me and try and put me in jail?” he wrote on March 6, 2019, in a text message found on Hunter’s abandoned laptop. “Why would they try and ruin my family and destroy my kids and no one from your family’s side step in and at least try to help me? I don’t get it.”
Hunter replied with a dissertation on coequal branches of government before reassuring his friend he would not be abandoned by the Biden family.
“Every great family is persecuted . . . you are part of a great family— not a side show, not deserted by them even in your darkest moments. That’s the way Bidens are different, and you are a Biden. It’s the price of power and the people questioning you truly have none.”
Now Archer’s luck may have run out as he faces potential jail time.
Perhaps the shock of his imminent date with destiny made him forget his golf clubs at the Plandome Country Club, where he has been playing over the last year. A local spotted the Yale-themed golf bag abandoned outside the private Long Island club last month. No word on when Archer will be teeing off again.
Miranda Devine is the author of “Laptop from Hell: Hunter Biden, Big Tech, and the Dirty Secrets the President Tried to Hide” (Post Hill Press).