'My partner was associated with a Chinese energy company called CEFC,' Hunter tells federal judge
Hunter Biden admitted to a federal judge Wednesday that he received over $600,000 from a Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-backed company, contradicting President Biden’s insistence that nobody from his family "made money from China."
Hunter made his first appearance in a Delaware federal court Wednesday, pleading not guilty after Judge Maryellen Noreika rejected his plea deal that was criticized by Republicans as too lenient.
Prosecutors said in their proposed plea agreement with Hunter that he received $664,000 from a "Chinese infrastructure investment company," according to the official court transcript.
President Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. (Fox News)
Hunter then confirmed to the judge that he earned $664,000 from a company he formed in 2017 with the chairman of the CCP-backed CEFC.
"I started a company [in 2017] called Hudson West, your Honor, and my partner was associated with a Chinese energy company called CEFC," Hunter said.
"Who was your partner?" the court asked.
"I don't know how to spell his name, Yi Jianming is the chairman of that company," Hunter responded.
A courtroom sketch depicts Hunter Biden in a federal courtroom in Wilmington, Delaware, on Wednesday. (William J. Hennessy Jr.)
Hunter Biden departs the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building in Wilmington, Delaware, on Wednesday. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
BIDEN'S NARRATIVE ON NEVER DISCUSSING BUSINESS DEALS WITH HUNTER CONTINUE TO CRUMBLE
"$664,000 from a Chinese infrastructure investment company — is that one of the companies we've already talked about?" the judge continued.
"I believe so, yes, your Honor," he said, before adding, "I believe CEFC."
The House Oversight Committee highlighted the exchange on Twitter on Thursday afternoon.
Fox News Digital previously reported in 2020 about an email showing Hunter reaching out to Zhao Runlong at CEFC, asking that they please "translate my letter to Chairman Ye, please extend my warmest best wishes and that I hope to see the Chairman soon."
"I hope my letter finds you well. I regret missing you on your last visit to the United States," Hunter wrote in the attached letter, dated June 17, 2017. "Please accept the best wishes from the entire Biden family as well as my partners."
"We are all hoping to see you here again soon, or in Shanghai," he added.
Hunter’s apparent confirmation in the courtroom that he made more than a half million dollars from a Chinese company directly contradicts President Biden’s previous denials.
"My son has not made money in terms of this thing about, what are you talking about, China," Biden told then-President Donald Trump during the October 2020 debate.
"The only guy who made money from China is this guy," Biden said at the time, referring to Trump. "He’s the only one. Nobody else has made money from China."
For reference 👇 pic.twitter.com/K6c94qP7UN
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) July 27, 2023
Biden denied the allegations again this year after the House Oversight Committee said subpoenaed financial records revealed members of the Biden family received more than $1 million in payments from accounts related to Hunter's business associate Rob Walker and their Chinese business ventures in 2017.
"That’s not true," the president said March 17.
Hunter's plea deal fell through Wednesday, leading him to plead "not guilty" as prosecutors confirmed the president's son is still under investigation.
Hunter was expected to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax as part of a plea deal to avoid jail time on a felony gun charge. Now, jail time may be back on the table, House Republicans told Fox News Digital.
The White House did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
Jessica Chasmar is a digital writer on the politics team for Fox News and Fox Business. Story tips can be sent to
