Money laundering is a serious financial crime that has been threatening economies around the world for decades. It is reported to be especially prevalent in situations where there’s ample opportunity for corrupt individuals and organizations to funnel money away from its legitimate source.
While the scope of money laundering itself is large and complex, the money-laundering investigation surrounding Hunter Biden, son of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, is tied to financial activities in China from 2018.
According to a previously undisclosed email sent in April 2018 from a former money laundering investigator to Biden’s legal team, the transactions associated with Hunter Biden’s business in China were “highly unusual and erratic”. The investigator reportedly believed that these activities posed a risk of money laundering.
The warning was sent in a confidential email in April 2018 from John Comeau, who has both public and private sector experience in money laundering investigations. According to his LinkedIn page, he has worked as a Money Laundering Adviser for the U.S. Departmen of Treasury and as an independent financial crime consultant.
Comeau said in the email that Biden was receiving “erratic payments from foreign individuals drawing attention”. He added in the email that he believed the situation was “far more problematic than imagined”.
It is unclear what steps were taken to address the troubling situation outlined in the email sent by Comeau.
It is, however, widely accepted that proper procedures and due diligence are vital when it comes to money laundering risk assessments. Such procedures involve the use of data and analytics to assess suspicious payments or transactions.
Money laundering investigations are incredibly complex, and the Biden case makes this abundantly clear. It is worrying, though, that such an experienced investigator, working in the public and private sectors of money laundering, believed that the payments Hunter Biden received from foreign individuals may have been part of a money laundering scheme. It is clear that a serious and properly conducted investigation needs to take place in order to ascertain the true nature of these payments.