Could Hunter Biden’s Yale Crony Turn on His Former Business Partner in Last-Ditch Attempt To Avoid Prison?

The sprawling investigations into Hunter Biden could be set to gain a foothold at New York City, as a seemingly far-flung case concerning tribal lands could help prosecutors home in on, at long last, the first son. While the investigation into Mr. Biden fils has thus far been Delaware-centric, a Gotham angle is coming into view. The thread begins with Devon Archer, who is set to appear Tuesday before the Second United States Appeals Circuit, at Lower Manhattan. The circuit riders are Archer’s last recourse to avoid a year in prison, as he has already been convicted of both conspiracy to commit securities fraud and securities fraud.Speculation is now heating up that prosecutors could turn Archer’s dire straits to their advantage, squeezing him to provide information on a close friend and business partner, Hunter Biden. Archer met Mr. Biden fils via Archer’s Yale classmate and friend, Chris Heinz, the son of a late *Republican senator, John Heinz, and stepson of Senator Kerry. The three men (Mr. Biden, a Yale Law graduate, Archer and Mr. Heinz) became partners in their business firm, Rosemont Seneca, which is now accused of trading on the influence of the Biden and Kerry names. Mr. Biden and Archer, a former Abercrombie & Fitch model, served together on Burisma’s board, an entity that has come under scrutiny for its ties to President Biden, who ran Ukraine policy for the Obama White House while Chris Heinz’s stepfather, Mr. Kerry, was secretary of state. Mr. Heinz cut business ties with Hunter Biden over the unseemly Burisma partnership. Meanwhile Archer became the focus of a criminal investigation into his business dealings with a Native American sub-tribe.Writing in the New York Post, Miranda Devine reports that Archer’s friends “have urged him to save himself by using the only currency he has left — his knowledge of the Biden family influence-peddling scheme, for which he had a front-row seat for four years during Joe Biden’s vice presidency.”To date, there is little indication that the United States attorney charged with investigating Mr. Biden fils, David Weiss of Delaware, has widened his ken enough to capture the alleged “scheme” that Ms. Devine alludes to. His attention thus far appears to be focused on tax crimes and making a false statement related to a gun purchase. Prosecutors met with the first son’s attorneys last week.The lawmaker leading the investigation of Hunter Biden on Capitol Hill, Representative James Comer, though, has already subpoenaed transactions involving Archer from his time at Burisma, whose leader is under investigation for corruption. On April 16, 2014, Vice President Biden met with Archer, at the White House. The unrelated fraud that Archer perpetrated, prosecutors argued, centered on the purchase of $60 million in bonds from the Oglala Sioux, a subtribe of the Lakota people who largely live in South Dakota. Those funds were allegedly misused, and heavy losses ensued. Prosecutors called Archer a “key player in the scheme” who hoped to “reap massive profits from its sale.” The jury was persuaded in 2018, but, in a surprising twist, the presiding judge, Ronnie Abrams, was not. She granted Archer’s request for a fresh trial, reasoning that he was not the scheme’s ringleader and did not benefit from its implementation. Additionally, she found that Archer suffered financial loss, not gain, from the enterprise. Judge Abrams explained that she was “left with an unwavering concern that Archer is innocent of the crimes charged.” That decision was promptly overruled by Judge Richard Sullivan, who is now one of the troika of riders who will decide Archer’s fate, along with Archer’s Yale classmate, Myrna Pérez, and William Nardini. Should that group leave his conviction intact, it will only heighten Archer’s incentive to cut a deal with the government, one that could implicate Hunter Biden. His year-long prison sentence, as well as the obligation to repay millions of dollars, was reinstated. Archer’s lawyer, Matthew Schwartz, tells the Sun that his client “has the greatest respect for the American judicial system. He is innocent, and is hopeful that the courts will reinstate Judge Abrams’ careful decision recognizing that his conviction was a miscarriage of justice.” The government argues, as its complaint puts it, that Archer and his confederates “did combine, conspire, confederate, and agree together and with each other to commit offenses against the United States.” For his part, Archer, who does not have a powerful father or stepfather, explains, “I was doing too many things at once and not paying enough attention.”Mr. Schwartz argued before the Second Circuit that his client lacked “complete knowledge” of the scheme. He also argued that Judge Abrams made a “a simple counting error” in her verdict that resulted in a longer prison sentence, though the year that was imposed was less than the three that prosecutors had requested.*Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified Senator Heinz’s political affiliation. He was a Republican.

Could Hunter Biden’s Yale Crony Turn on His Former Business Partner in Last-Ditch Attempt To Avoid Prison?

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