Biden’s Son to Step Down from Chinese PE Firm

Hunter Biden, son of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, announced he will resign from the board of a private equity firm after drawing criticism from President Donald Trump, who claimed he profited off his father’s name.

In a statement published Sunday by Biden’s lawyer, Chicago-based attorney George Mesires, Biden will step down from his unpaid position on the board of BHR Partners, a private equity firm based in Beijing, on Oct. 31.

Biden currently has a 10% equity position in the firm, estimated by Mesires to be valued around $425,000, which Biden committed in October 2017. According to the attorney, Biden has not received any compensation for his investment to date, and he may divest other business interests if his father is elected president. However, the statement did not indicate whether he would retain a stake in BHR.

Biden’s personal business dealings became the subject of intense scrutiny after he was named in an edited transcript of a phone call between Trump and the president of Ukraine that has led to an impeachment inquiry.

BHR Partners is a subsidary of Bohai Industrial Investment Fund Management, a larger private equity firm approved by China’s State Council that’s managed by Bank of China Ltd., a state-owned bank. BHR was launched in 2013 by Bohai in coordination with other partners based in China and two U.S. organizations, including Rosemont Seneca Partners, an investment and advisory firm co-founded by Biden.

The following year, the firm was on target to exceed its fundraising target of $1 billion in a combination of Chinese yuan and U.S. dollars.