During the Obama administration, Vice President Joe Biden and a top White House official met with Nicolas Rohatyn, a well-known Biden supporter and CEO of The Rohatyn Group, multiple times. When Rohatyn went to a “Mexico Lunch” in March 2010 to coincide with the White House’s Mexico State Dinner on May 19, that year, their professional connection officially started.
According to Fox News, Hunter Biden had a key role in getting Rohatyn, a customer of his old business, involved in several projects.
Rohatyn was invited to a luncheon event in Mexico in 2010 by Hunter and his business partner Eric Schwerin. Hunter had shown interest in new commercial collaborations to Schwerin, who suggested bringing Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim. Although it’s unclear if Rohatyn attended, the conference carried a lot of potential for Hunter’s business endeavors.
Learn about The Rohatyn Group, a renowned asset management company with a focus on growing markets around the world, particularly in Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. Rohatyn has established solid connections in the market, serving a wide range of clients that include institutional investors, sovereign wealth funds, and high-net-worth individuals. Since they initially connected at the Mexico Lunch, their relationship with Hunter and the Bidens has grown stronger.
A policy dinner was sponsored in New York City in July 2010 by Chris Heinz, a former business associate of Hunter Biden. According to Hunter’s emails, the dinner’s purpose was to gather a range of people for enlightening debates about money, politics, and labor. David Paterson, the governor of New York, Rob McCord, the treasurer of Pennsylvania, Bert Lesniewski, the chief financial officer of the NY State United Teachers, and Chris Chafe, previously of Change to Win and now the executive director of the Clean Economy Development Center, were among the notable guests.
After dinner, Rohatyn received a thank-you email from Alexandra Stanton, a partner at Rosemont Seneca Partners (RSP), which Hunter and Schwerin co-founded. Hunter, Heinz, and Arlene Busch, another RSP partner, were all copied on the email.
“Our goal at Rosemont Seneca is to create intimate dynamics where our clients can both benefit professionally and intellectually,” Stanton wrote in emails that Fox News Digital was able to obtain. “This forum was about the confluence and interrelatedness of finance, politics, and labor. Our plan is to do a series of these dinners, and we promise to alternate topics and attendees each time so you encounter an interesting breadth and depth of individuals.”
The RSP’s office administrator Joan Peugh informed Hunter through email in September 2010 of a meeting between Rohatyn and the White House’s then-Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers. Before his own meeting with Summers, Peugh proposed that Biden meet with Rohatyn as well. He wrote, “Your dad can meet with Nick before his 145PM meeting with Sec. Summers.”
Rohatyn visited the White House that day, although only Summers is noted as having a meeting with him in the visiting records. The next day, Rohatyn sent Hunter an email in which he expressed his appreciation for the time spent with his father and included the Nouriel Roubini article headed “What America Needs is a Payroll Tax Cut.”
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“I enjoyed my brief visit with your father – very cool guy,” he said.
According to information obtained from the White House visitor records, Rohatyn visited the White House three times, two of which she spent with Summers on Nov. 30, 2009, and Feb. 2, 2010. Additionally, on February 1st, 2010, Rohatyn attended a “Alvin Ailey Reception” at Biden’s house. What Rohatyn had to do with Joe Biden and Hunter at that time is still a mystery.
In the same year, Hunter set Rohatyn up with Greg Penner and Adrian Fenty, who was the mayor of Washington, DC at the time.
There have been several controversies around Hunter Biden’s association with Felix Rohatyn, a significant player in New York City politics. Hunter got an email in 2012 from a coworker that had Rohatyn’s name on it, but it wasn’t apparent what it was for. Later, in January 2013, Hunter and Rohatyn had a coffee date and seemed to stay in touch. In order to negotiate renaming a terminal at LaGuardia Airport after Rohatyn’s late father, Hunter organized a lunch date with Rohatyn in 2015 and later set up a meeting between Rohatyn and his father. Curiosity has been aroused by the circumstances surrounding these contacts.
“I’d gladly ask Dad if he will weigh in,” Hunter wrote, “they have a good relationship and Beau and the Governor were close.”
“If you will be in the area I’d love for you to get a chance to say hi to Dad,” Hunter explained, “it’s easy to arrange- someone can meet you and take you to his holding room to say hi.”
John Flynn, Biden’s traveling chief of staff, and Rohatyn met thanks to an arrangement made by Hunter. At a future event, Flynn pledged to meet Rohatyn and introduce her to Biden. Later that day, Rohatyn thanked Hunter for organizing such an extraordinary and memorable trip.
“I did mention what I was trying to accomplish and he volunteered he’d be supportive of it at the right time, which was super nice,” Rohatyn wrote. “Thanks so much for helping to make that happen. John Flynn could not have been any nicer.”
In October 2015, Rohatyn sent Hunter an email to express his sympathies for the loss of Biden’s son Beau and to support Biden’s choice not to run for president. Hunter and Rohatyn appeared to have spoken on the phone multiple times throughout this time as well.
Rohatyn had the privilege of visiting the White House and meeting with Steve Ricchetti in November 2015. Hunter had the pleasure of eating lunch with Rohatyn the next day. Hunter is now looking forward to their impending coffee date in May 2016 since it has been set for months.
Before the Obama administration ended in January 2017, Rohatyn made another trip to the White House. They didn’t have much time to catch up during the visit, according to Hunter’s email, but he asked if Rohatyn or a member of his staff would like to meet with Jonathan Li, the CEO of BHR Partners, a Chinese cross-border private equity fund that Rosemont Seneca helped found and in which they are a shareholder. Hunter said in his letter, “Sorry we didn’t have more time to catch up but as you can imagine that day was pretty hectic.”
In an effort to discuss possible collaboration, Hunter emailed Rohatyn to arrange a meeting with Jonathan Li, CEO of BHR Partners, a Chinese private equity fund. Rohatyn indicated interest in meeting with Li and brought in Caroline, his assistant, to help organize things while Eric was included as a CC in the email to aid with logistics. Hunter may have set up this encounter by introducing Li to his father on a trip to China in December 2013.
“Thanks for the note. Happy to connect with Jonathan Li when he is here. Copying my assistant Caroline to coordinate, Rohatyn responded.
Was Hunter in town between late 2017 and late 2018 when Rohatyn and Hunter met? The solution is still a mystery. What is obvious, though, is that Rohatyn gave a sizeable $2,800 to Biden’s 2020 campaign for president. Attend the news conference of the House Oversight Committee to learn newly disclosed information on the commercial dealings of the Biden family.
Kentucky’s James Comer, the committee’s chair, asked the Justice Department to postpone Hunter’s potential indictment until following the news conference. The future discoveries, in his opinion, will have a greater effect.
