Biden-appointed D.C. U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves, who allegedly refused to charge Hunter Biden for failing to pay his taxes, made his career in the Department of Justice (DOJ) by going after financial crimes and corruption.
President Joe Biden nominated Graves to be the D.C. U.S. attorney in July 2021. Graves was confirmed in October 2021 after working in the private sector and as an assistant U.S. attorney in nation’s capital, where he handled cases against financial criminals and corrupt individuals, according to his official bio. (DOJ Prosecutors Who Allegedly Refused To Charge Hunter Biden Donated To Joe Biden And Kamala Harris, Records Show)
NEW: The U.S. Attorneys who apparently refused to charge Hunter Biden in D.C. and California for alleged tax fraud donated to Joe Biden’s presidential campaign and Kamala Harris’ senate campaign respectively, FEC records show @DailyCaller
— James Lynch (@jameslynch32) June 30, 2023
In a questionnaire to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Graves listed the top 10 most significant cases he worked on, with four of his top five cases involving financial crime or corruption. (RELATED: Top Hunter Biden Prosecutor David Weiss Previously Worked With Joe Biden)
Graves’ top case, United States v. Commerzbank, was a settlement with the DOJ and German banking titan Commerzbank for its role in moving $263 million from sanctioned Iranian and Sudanese individuals through the U.S. financial system, Graves said. His second-ranked case was a similar sanctions avoidance scheme carried out by Crédit Agricole subsidiaries in Geneva, Switzerland, on behalf of entities in Sudan, Burma, Iran and Cuba.
The third case on Graves’ list was a corruption prosecution against former Democratic Illinois Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who used large amounts of campaign funds for personal expenses and subsequently submitted “false and misleading” Federal Election Commission (FEC) reports. Graves’ fifth-ranked case was a prosecution against an individual who committed securities fraud as part of a years-long Ponzi scheme.
“During my time in the Fraud and Public Corruption Section, I led investigations that resulted in the foreign and international business organizations that were the subjects of these investigations collectively paying in excess of $2 billion, including successfully resolving two prominent sanctions investigations. I also handled a number of sensitive investigations involving elected officials during my tenure,” Graves said.
Graves won the DOJ’s special achievement award in 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2013. The FBI presented Graves with a service award in 2014 for his work. (RELATED: ‘Entirely Of Their Own Making’: DOJ Prosecutors Blame Hunter Biden For Guilty Plea Falling Apart)
BREAKING: House Oversight released a new memo showing the Bidens took millions from Russian, Ukrainian and Kazakh oligarchs. The committee has found more than $20 million in payments from foreign partners to the Biden family and its associates @DailyCaller pic.twitter.com/HrJAXD3ysp
— James Lynch (@jameslynch32) August 9, 2023
When he worked in the private sector, Graves handled litigation and compliance with sanctions laws, export controls, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and regulatory practices. As a private sector attorney, Graves advised Joe Biden’s 2020 Democratic presidential campaign, he told Senate Judiciary. He also donated to Joe Biden’s presidential campaign twice, according to FEC records.
IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler testified to the House Ways and Means Committee and accused DOJ prosecutors of taking steps to slow-walk and obstruct the Hunter Biden case. Shapley told the committee Graves blocked Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss from charging Hunter Biden for tax offenses committed in D.C. from 2014-15, resulting in the statute of limitations passing on the younger Biden’s alleged crimes.
In July, Shapley’s attorneys released an email Shapley sent in October 2022, talking about Graves’ alleged refusal to charge Hunter Biden and the DOJ’s alleged refusal to grant Weiss special counsel authority following Graves’ decision.
“Weiss stated that he is not the deciding person on whether charges are filed,” Shapley said. “Went to DC USAO in early summer to request to charge there – Biden appointed USA said they could not charge in his district,” he added. The House Ways and Means, Oversight and Judiciary committees have subpoenaed witnesses to the Oct. 7, 2022, meeting outlined in Shapley’s email.
Weiss said in a June letter to Republican Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan that his charging authority was limited to his district and required cooperation from outside offices in order to potentially charge Biden elsewhere. Weiss then contradicted himself in a July letter to Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and denied requesting special counsel authority.
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Weiss special counsel Aug. 11, and Weiss immediately moved to potentially charge Hunter Biden in Washington, D.C., or the Central District of California instead of Delaware, the venue of Biden’s two tax misdemeanor charges and a felony gun charge.
The younger Biden was expected to plead guilty to the two tax misdemeanors and sign a diversion agreement to avoid jail time for the gun charge. However, Biden’s plea and diversion agreements collapsed during a July 26 court appearance because of scrutiny from Delaware U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, who took issue with a prosecutorial immunity provision tucked into Biden’s proposed diversion agreement.
Noreika’s scrutiny caused a disagreement between DOJ special attorney Leo Wise and Biden’s defense counsel over whether Biden could be charged under FARA if the immunity clause was made official. Wise said Biden could still be charged for FARA violations and Biden’s attorney disagreed, resulting in Biden pleading not guilty to the tax charges before they were dismissed at Weiss’ request.
The Biden family and its associates received more than $20 million in payments from Ukrainian, Russian, Chinese, Romanian and Kazakh business associates, according to bank records released by the House Oversight Committee.
Garland has denied Shapley’s accusations of political interference in the Hunter Biden case. The D.C. U.S. Attorney’s office did not respond to the Daily Caller’s request for comment by the time of publication.