A 2018 court filing which was obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation shows Federal investigators obtained a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant against one of Hunter Biden’s Chinese business associates. The warrant suggests “the executive was suspected of acting as a covert agent of a foreign government” writes DCNF.
At least one FISA warrant was issued against Chi Ping Patrick Ho, who was charged in December of 2017 “with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and money laundering related to CEFC China Energy contracts in Uganda and Chad.” Prior to his arrest, Ho was an executive at the Chinese energy company.
In text messages released earlier this week by former Biden business partner Tony Bobulinski, Hunter showed concerns that working with Ho and the CEFC may require him to register with the Justice Department Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). “We don’t want to have to register as foreign agents under the FCPA which is much more expansive than people who should know choose not to know” the text messages read.
Hunter Biden not only “sought a partnership with CEFC” but also represented Ho in his legal battle. According to The New Yorker, CEFC chairman Ye Jianming “raised concerns with Biden in summer 2017 about a possible investigation into Ho.” Additionally, “Biden agreed to represent Ho and to find out the extent of the investigation.”
In December 2018, The New York Times reported that James Biden, Joe Biden’s brother, was the first call Ho made after his arrest. Republican senators released a report saying a shell company of CEFC wired $1 million to Biden’s law firm in March of 2018. The payment was written for “Dr. Patrick Ho Chi Ping Representation.
The report also “asserted that Biden’s relationship with CEFC posed counterintelligence concerns, in part due to Ye’s links to the People’s Liberation Army and the Chinese Communist Party.” Court filings in Ho’s case “suggest that federal investigators had counterintelligence concerns about Ho” writes DCNF. Additionally, the FISA warrant allowed investigators to conduct electronic and physical surveillance of Ho’s property.
“The United States intends to offer into evidence, or otherwise use or disclose in any proceedings in the above-captioned matter, information obtained or derived from electronic surveillance and a physical search conducted pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act,” prosecutors said in the February 2018 court filing.