Devon Archer, the former business associate of the Biden family who is scheduled to provide closed-door testimony to congressional investigators on Monday, is unlikely to protect the first family from potential incrimination in questionable foreign deals.
Archer, 49, is currently facing a one-year prison sentence for securities fraud. He believed that Hunter Biden and President Biden should have intervened to protect him.
Text messages found on Hunter Biden’s discarded laptop reveal that Archer and Hunter’s once-close partnership started to unravel in March 2019. Archer was seeking to overturn his conviction and sentence at the time.
Archer sent multiple texts to Hunter Biden, asking why officials from the Biden administration arrested him and attempted to put him in jail. He expressed confusion over the lack of support from the Biden family.
Archer was arrested by federal law enforcement in May 2016. At that time, Joe Biden was concluding his second term as vice president. Archer and six others were charged with defrauding the Oglala Sioux Tribe of more than $60 million.
Prior to his arrest, Archer was one of Hunter Biden’s closest business associates. He helped the first son and his family secure millions of dollars through deals involving Ukraine, China, and Russia.
Archer had met with Vice President Biden in the White House and was photographed alongside him on the golf course. He also served on the board of the Ukraine energy firm Burisma with Hunter Biden, which paid them millions of dollars to allegedly gain Mr. Biden’s assistance in dealing with a prosecutor investigating the company.
However, his close connections did not protect him from prosecution and conviction.
Archer’s text messages from 2019 reveal not only his frustration and fear regarding his legal troubles but also his willingness to bring up the suspicious business deals that benefited up to 10 members of the Biden family.
He wrote to Hunter Biden, questioning why their family did not step in to help him and expressing his confusion over the situation. Archer also mentioned the influence of individuals from Asia who were asking him about it.
Archer may have been referring to executives from the now-defunct Chinese energy firm CEFC and associated State Energy HK Limited, both of which are connected to the Chinese Communist Party. These companies provided millions of dollars to the Biden family and a small group of business associates, including Archer, who facilitated these deals.
House investigators are eager to speak to Archer about payments received by the Bidens from Chinese nationals and other foreign entities. They are also interested in a claim made by a paid FBI informant that Hunter Biden and then-Vice President Biden each received a $5 million bribe from Burisma CEO Mykola Zlochevsky.
Archer’s testimony is expected to provide crucial information to help investigators determine the extent of Joe Biden’s involvement in his son’s business dealings, contradicting the president’s claims of ignorance.
Archer is likely to tell House investigators that on as many as two dozen occasions, Hunter Biden patched his father into his business deals via phone calls.
It has been reported that Archer is in hiding after receiving threats. His lawyer, Matthew Schwartz, has not responded to requests for comments.
In a statement released last week, Schwartz stated, “There have been many leaks and much speculation about Archer’s potential statement to the Oversight Committee, but next week, Archer will get to speak for himself.”
Archer, who is the nephew of the late Massachusetts crime family boss Whitey Bulger, has remained out of prison while appealing his conviction. However, his freedom may be short-lived.
In June, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected his attempt to have his conviction and sentence overturned.
In the 2019 text message exchange between Archer and Hunter Biden about his legal problems, Hunter responded condescendingly, which is unlikely to foster loyalty as Archer testifies before House lawmakers while facing federal prison. Archer’s testimony comes after the collapse of an unusual plea deal offered to Hunter Biden by federal prosecutors, which a judge rejected. This deal would have spared him from any jail time for tax fraud and lying on a gun background check form.
Hunter Biden told Archer in the text messages that his family couldn’t help him because there was no connection or control between the Justice Department and the Biden vice presidency.
“It’s democracy. The three co-equal branches of government,” he lectured Archer. “When you are in power, you are always more vulnerable to the overreach of one of those co-equal branches. Every president’s family is held to a higher standard and becomes a target. It’s the price of being the most powerful group of people in the world. It’s why our democracy remains viable. It may be unfair at times, but in the end, the system of justice usually works, and like you, we are redeemed, and the truth prevails. The unfairness allows for the greater good.”
