Hunter Biden, the president's son, was a founding board member of an investment firm that helped facilitate a Chinese company's purchase of an American company's one of the world's richest cobalt mines.
Bohai Harvest RST (Shanghai) Equity Investment Fund Management Company was formally named after Mr. Biden and two other Americans, when they joined Chinese partners in establishing the firm.
The three Americans who served on the board controlled 30 percent of BHR, a private equity firm that makes investments and flips them for a profit. The Bank of China is one of the Chinese investors who own or control the rest of the company.
In 2016 the firm made one of its most successful investments when it bought a stake in a Chinese company that is now the world's biggest maker of batteries for electric vehicles.
The Chinese mining outfit China Molybdenum announced in 2016 that it was buying the Tenke Fungurume mine from the American company.
Lundin Mining of Canada was a minority stakeholder in the mine. BHR became involved.
Records in Hong Kong show that the BHR paid to buy out Lundin came from Chinese state-backed companies.
China Molybdenum lined up loans from Chinese state-backed banks. BHR raised the remaining amount from obscure entities with names like Design TimeLimited, an offshore company controlled by China Construction's investment bank, according to the Hong Kong filings.
BHR signed an agreement that allowed China Molybdenum to buy its share of the mine two years after the deal was done, according to the filings. China Molybdenum owned 80 percent of the mine. Congo's state mining enterprise kept a stake for itself.
Mr. Biden had control of 10 percent of the firm through a company based in Washington. Chris Clark, a lawyer for Mr. Biden, said that he no longer holds any interest in either BHR or Skaneateles. The Chinese records show that Mr. Biden was no longer on the board. Mr. Biden didn't reply to questions.
A former BHR board member told The New York Times that Mr. Biden and the other American founders were not involved in the mine deal. The former board member said that the money went into the firm's operating funds and not to its owners.
It is not clear how the firm was chosen. Emails and phone calls were not returned by current executives at BHR. The spokesman for China Molybdenum said that they don't know Hunter Biden or his involvement in BHR.
Executives from companies involved in the deal said they were not given a reason for BHR's participation. Most of the executives said they were unaware of Mr. Biden's connection to the firm.
The buyer of Lundin's stake was BHR, but Paul Conibear said that China Molybdenum was leading the transaction.
Mr. Conibear said he didn't understand who BHR was.
Mr. Biden's father was vice president when the mine was sold. Hunter Biden had business ties in China in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election.
The Chinese mine purchase was not a focus for BHR. The Biden administration warned this year that China might use its growing dominance of cobalt to disrupt America's retooling of its auto industry to make electric vehicles. The metal is used in electric car batteries.
A White House spokesman denied that the president had been made aware of his son's connection to the sale.
