James Biden, brother of President Joe Biden, arrives for a deposition before the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees on President Biden's impeachment inquiry in Washington on February 21, 2024. | Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty ImagesNew details about Jim Biden’s foreign fundraising efforts are spilling out in a Kentucky bankruptcy court, where recent testimony indicates that President Joe Biden’s brother partnered with Qatari government officials in his quest to find money for U.S.
If substantiated, the alleged arrangements would constitute some of the closest known financial links between a relative of President Joe Biden and a foreign government. Jim Biden suggested to congressional investigators in February that his fundraising efforts stalled for lack of viable projects to back. But the previously unreported testimony by fund manager Michael Lewitt about the ownership of the two companies — the Platinum Group USA and Obermeyer Engineering Consulting — indicates that Jim Biden forged closer ties to Qatar’s government than previously understood.
Together, Jim Biden, Rustom and Lewitt sought investment funding from sources in the Middle East for Americore and other ventures, according to federal court filings in Tennessee and emails obtained by POLITICO. A month later, on April 10, Lander emailed Jim Biden about the fundraising efforts and referred to an apparent meeting with a high-ranking Qatari official.
One avenue that Jim Biden explored for getting investments to Americore was dependent on helping a payment processing company, Billerfy, gain access to the U.S. banking system, internal Americore emails show.. A lawyer who has represented Billerfy, Philip Holdsworth of Robbins Appleby in Toronto, did not respond to requests for comment and POLITICO was unable to reach the company directly.
By way of explaining the continued fundraising delays, Jim Biden wrote that Rustom and Lewitt “are waiting on World Bank approval” of their acquisition of a bank and touted his own efforts to secure funding. “I agreed to go to Qatar, Saudi Arabia and China ,” he wrote.A week later, Jim Biden aired his frustrations in an email to Rustom. “The $30 million was committed to over two months ago and we made moves predicated on that available line of credit,” he wrote.
Neither a representative for Jim Biden nor Qatar’s embassy in Washington responded to questions about Jim Biden’s alleged trip to Qatar or plans to meet with Al Emadi. In March, POLITICO reported that Third Friday’s loans to Americore — as well as other dealings involving Jim Biden, Lewitt, Rustom and the Platinum Group — were being scrutinized in an ongoing federal criminal investigation in South Florida.Meanwhile, a bizarre commercial dispute between Lewitt and the Rustom brothers has provided a striking glimpse into Jim Biden’s foreign business ties.that included an agreement between his fund and a Delaware company, Obermeyer Engineering Consulting.