(NewsNation) — More than 128,000 emails from Hunter Biden’s laptop are now in a searchable database, courtesy of a former aide to Donald Trump. Thursday, NBC News published its analysis of the emails, reporting that Hunter Biden managed to rake in about $11 million total from 2013 to 2018 while he served on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma and was involved in a joint venture with a Chinese tycoon.
There is an active federal probe into possible tax fraud, money laundering and foreign lobbying crimes, with prosecutors reportedly looking into multiple international financial and business dealings involving Hunter Biden dating back to when Joe Biden was still vice president, with an apparent focus on Hunter’s business dealings in Ukraine, China and Kazakhstan. They’re also said to be digging into the possibility that Hunter shifted money around from company to company in order to hide his real tax liability.
There are also serious questions about what Hunter did to earn some of this money, particularly when it comes to his business dealings with Chinese firms. It’s still unclear what exactly he did to earn that money from the Chinese partners and that lack of clarity has led to questions about national security, business, ethics and possible criminal wrongdoing.
Hunter made $5.8 million, according to NBC, and more than half his total earnings from 2013 to 2018 coming from two deals with Chinese business interests, including CFC Chinese energy, a massive oil and gas company that had financing from government development bank’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party, according to people who studied the firm.
Former federal prosecutor Shan Wu appeared Thursday on NewsNation’s “Dan Abrams Live” to discuss the analysis, as questions remain about why certain Chinese entities would pay Hunter Biden.
“I think that’s the smoke that’s around this, a little hard to tell how much fire there really is. But that’s the smoke. I mean, it’s obvious that he was sought after because of who he is, whose son that he is. But I think what we have to remember that is that in and of itself, it might be distasteful, may be unfair. But it’s not at all clear where there’s anything criminal involved there.
“There’s nothing criminal in being solicited, because I’m the son of a famous person with connections. But if I do something with those connections, and I’m paid to do something with those, and that’s not disclosed, that could be criminal. So that’s what the evidence has got to point towards if there’s going to be a charge,” Wu explained.
Wu said white collar investigations can take a long time to build. He thinks while investigators have had issues authenticating evidence, everything’s on the table and they should come to a charging decision.