Joe, 'right next' to bro, too
Involvement in failed hosp venture eyed
President Biden’s younger brother James said the future commander in chief was sitting right next to him during a business call about a now-bankrupt hospital business James allegedly fleeced, according to a report — mirroring First Son Hunter Biden’s infamous shakedown text to a Chinese businessman in July 2017 that he was “sitting here with my father.”
Joe Biden also met with the founder of Americore Health Enterprises before the company went belly-up and was at one point penciled in for an equity stake, Politico reported.
Current presidential physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor even participated in a business meeting at a Pennsylvania hospital with James Biden after the facility was acquired by Americore.
James Biden, 74, is expected to be grilled on details of his dealings and Joe Biden’s potential involvement during a Wednesday deposition before the House impeachment inquiry, which is also likely to probe Joe Biden’s role in his brother’s business ventures in countries including China, Mexico and Saudi Arabia.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) revealed bank records in October showing James Biden paid $200,000 to Joe on March 1, 2018, the same day he received a matching amount from Americore in exchange for working his political connections to help secure the hospital chain a Middle Eastern investor.
James Biden received $600,000 in loans from the company the year before it folded, according to a July 2022
bankruptcy filing, taking the money “based upon representations that his last name, ‘Biden,’ could ‘open doors.’ ”
One potential business partner told Politico of a phone call in which James Biden said he was sitting next to Joe.
‘Disclose & expose’
James’ wife, Sara, prepared investor presentations and his son, James, produced a video pitch for Americore, while Hunter met with its CEO, according to the testimony of a former executive and emails reported by Politico.
James Biden also reportedly fired Americore’s CFO, Tony Sudduth, shortly after the March 2018 payment for not putting together financial statements ahead of a pitch to investors.
Sudduth declined to finalize any report in the belief that he lacked sufficient information about the company’s debts and revenues — and the business model was based on upcharges for lab testing, one person familiar with the ousting told Politico.
The ex-CFO later threatened James Biden in an email demanding severance, “I am pretty sure Americore’s partners would not welcome a public battle that will ultimately disclose and expose the complete workings of the organization.”
Founded by Canadian entrepreneur Grant White, Americore was presented as a venture to help rural hospitals in Kentucky and Pennsylvania with drug rehabilitation, lab testing and cancer treatments — a focus of Biden as vice president, particularly following the death of his son Beau in May 2015.