Hunter Biden’s former business associate conducted financial services for then-Vice President Joe Biden free of charge, a source familiar told the Caller.
Eric Schwerin testified Tuesday before Congress and said he completed tasks for Joe Biden such as bookkeeping, paying bills, tax preparation and financial disclosures without being paid, according to the source. (RELATED: Biden Associate Reveals The Reason Joe Biden Apparently Met With Hunter’s Chinese Business Partners)
Joe Biden used an alias to exchange more than 50 private emails with Schwerin, with many of the conversations happening in spring 2014, email data released by the House Ways and Means Committee in December shows. IRS whistleblower Joseph Ziegler provided the documents.
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 10: Hunter Biden (C), son of U.S. President Joe Biden, and his lawyer Abbe Lowell (R) depart a House Oversight Committee meeting at Capitol Hill on January 10, 2024 in Washington, DC. The committee is meeting today as it considers citing him for Contempt of Congress. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
The whistleblower previously testified to the Ways and Means Committee about Schwerin’s role as Hunter Biden’s accountant and how Schwerin set up Hunter Biden’s business account Owasco P.C. to help him with tax issues.
In an August affidavit, Ziegler described Schwerin as Hunter Biden’s business partner and accountant. Schwerin was an executive with Hunter Biden’s investment firm Rosemont Seneca Partners, but the pair eventually had a falling out.
Emails released by the House Ways and Means Committee in September show Schwerin celebrated a “victory lap” in late 2016 with Blue Star Strategies, lobbyists for Ukrainian energy firm, Burisma Holdings.
Schwerin discussed Blue Star’s relationship with Hunter Biden and business associate Devon Archer in late 2015 when Burisma brought the lobbyists on board, additional emails show. Soon afterwards, Schwerin worked with then-Vice President Biden staffers on handling media inquiries surrounding Hunter Biden’s relationship with Burisma as Joe Biden was traveling to Ukraine, emails show.
Burisma brought Hunter Biden onto its board in spring 2014, and he was paid more than $80,000 per month while his father was vice president, bank records show. The Ukrainian firm slashed Hunter Biden’s salary after Joe Biden’s vice presidency concluded in January 2017, according to Hunter Biden’s federal tax indictment in California.
Schwerin testified he did not have insights into the payments the Biden family and its associates received from Chinese, Russian, Ukrainian, Kazakh and Romanian entities, a source familiar told the Caller. Schwerin said in his opening statement he was not aware of any financial compensation Joe Biden received from his son’s dealings.
The Biden family and its associates hauled in more than $24 million from foreign sources from approximately 2014-19, House Republicans said in a September memo. (RELATED: Chinese Firm Sent Biden Enterprise $3 Million As ‘Thank You’ For Work When Joe Biden Held Office, Comer Says)
Former President Barack Obama appointed Schwerin in March 2015 to the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, the same commission President Biden appointed Hunter Biden’s art patron Elizabeth Naftali to in July 2022.
The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed Schwerin in November to have him testify for the impeachment inquiry into President Biden focused primarily on his role in his son’s foreign business dealings.
Hunter Biden is set to testify Feb. 28.
Henry Rodgers contributed to this report