President Biden’s brother was hired to conduct secret negotiations with the Saudi government on behalf of a US construction company over his relationship with the then-vice president, legal documents allege.
Jim Biden was chosen because Saudi Arabia “wouldn’t dare stiff the vice president’s brother who would be instrumental in the deal,” claim affidavits obtained by .
Joe’s younger brother Jim, 73, was at the center of a $140 million negotiation between Hill International and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2012.
According to the documents, Jim told a former senior US Treasury official who worked as a private investigator that he was assigned to negotiate with the Saudis “because of his position and relationship” with Vice President Joe Biden – who was leading delegations to Saudi Arabia at the time .
Affidavits say Joe Biden’s younger brother Jim, 73, was at the center of a $140 million settlement between a US construction company and Saudi Arabia in 2012
A February 2011 contract obtained by shows that Hill International hired three law firms, RL Walker & Co., Lankford & Reed and Poblete Tamargo, to help recover $140 million from the Saudis
In an affidavit, former Treasury Department official Thomas Sullivan described his sit-down interview with Jim Biden about his employment to negotiate with the Saudis.
Sullivan claimed the President’s brother told him, “Of course, the [Biden] Name didn’t hurt’ and Jim’s wife Sara, who was present, reportedly said that Joe and his brother ‘told each other everything’.
‘[Biden] said he was often sent to meetings to represent Hill because “of course the name didn’t hurt,” and he was the former vice president’s brother, or similar words. He repeated this statement at least twice during the interview.
“I specifically asked if he attended a meeting with the Saudi Ministry of Commerce in mid-February 2012 to receive the final payment for the work Hill had done. He replied that to the best of his knowledge he had been at one such meeting and that the reason he attended was “because of his position and relationship” with his brother.
In a May 2022 affidavit, Lankford & Reed partner V. Thomas Lankford (pictured) described the deal
Jim Biden’s role in the negotiations with Saudi Arabia arose from a dispute between US construction company Hill and its former lawyers over a Saudi payout.
The Saudi government owed Hill $140 million for her work building desalination plants in the Middle East Kingdom, dating back to the 1980s.
A February 2011 contract obtained by shows Hill hired three law firms, RL Walker & Co., Lankford & Reed and Poblete Tamargo, to recover the money.
For years, their negotiations were part of the Special Claims Process, a US government program to settle the kingdom’s unpaid debts to American companies.
But Lankford & Reed claims Hill also hired Jim around 2011 to arrange a $100 million backdoor settlement and failed to pay the attorneys their 40% cut after years of working on the case.
In a May 2022 affidavit, Lankford & Reed partner V. Thomas Lankford described the alleged double-dealing.
“After much delay, a meeting was finally scheduled for mid-February 2012 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,” he wrote. “The professional law firms were excluded from this meeting. Hill, playing through [its CEO, Irvin] Judge, sent Jim Biden – the brother of the then incumbent Vice President.
“Richter confided that he singled out Biden over KSA [the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia] wouldn’t dare star the vice president’s brother, who would play a pivotal role in the deal.
Thomas Sullivan, a former director of the Treasury Department’s Enforcement Division, interviewed Jim at his home in Merion Station, Pennsylvania, on July 16, 2017, according to Sullivan’s affidavit
Sullivan added that he had a brief exchange with Jim’s attorney wife, Sara, who told him he doesn’t like it when we talk to people.
The Republican-led Congress has promised a full probe into influence by members of Biden’s family, including son Hunter
The attorney claimed that Jim later “admitted that KSA and Hill had secretly agreed to settle the claim by awarding future contracts.
‘Mister. Biden further confirmed that Judge used Biden as a mediator in a settlement in order to benefit from the then-VP’s influence and orchestration of the settlement,” Lankford wrote.
The lawyers hired an investigator to question Jim and his wife about the alleged backdoor deal, and they reportedly got some shocking admissions from the president’s brother.
According to Sullivan’s affidavit, Sullivan interviewed Jim on July 16, 2017 at his home in Merion Station, Pennsylvania.
“I asked Mr. Biden to describe his position at Hill International,” the former Treasury Department official wrote. He said he was hired to do ‘business development’ work for them and that Saudi Arabia is a country that Hill has hired him to help with.
‘James stated that he was told the final payment would be in both cash and “a very large quantity” of new future commissioned work.’
Sullivan added that he had a brief exchange with Jim’s lawyer, Sara, who told him “he doesn’t like it when we talk to people.”
The affidavit does not specify who “he” is referring to, but a source briefed on the case told it was Joe Biden.
“I did not ask for further explanation as I saw two tall men in dark suits in a large black sedan parked on a side street looking directly into their home on the sidewalk I had just left,” Sullivan wrote . “I thought they were some kind of security agency, probably Secret Service.”
Joe Biden’s family was not eligible for Secret Service protection at the time because he had completed his tenure as Vice President.
“Sara and I went to my car. She told me that her husband and his brother were very close and that they told each other everything. I reached in to give her a card, and just as I did, a blue sedan pulled into her driveway with a single man at the wheel. She said, “See what I mean?”
Sullivan told that he was not authorized to comment further.
He stated that he was often sent to meetings to represent Hill because “of course the name didn’t hurt,” and he was the former vice president’s brother, or similar words
Lankford detailed the alleged double-dealing in the May 2022 affidavit
Lankford and the other attorneys involved did not respond to requests for comment.
Jim Biden and his wife were also closely involved in Hunter Biden’s multi-million dollar deal with Chinese government-affiliated oil giant CEFC — a deal currently under investigation by federal prosecutors.
Joe Biden has denied knowledge of his family’s overseas operations, but the revealing comments from Jim and his wife in the 2021 affidavit may cast doubt on those claims.
When reached, Sara Biden declined comment and Jim Biden did not respond to requests for comment.
A source close to the case told that House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer has a copy of the affidavits and other case files and is examining them as part of his committee’s investigation into the Biden family’s business dealings .
![Hill CEO Irvin Richter “trusted that he picked Biden over KSA [the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia] wouldn't dare star the vice president's brother, who would play a pivotal role in the deal.](https://www.spamchronicles.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/1676425903_49_Jim-Biden-brokered-deal-with-Saudis-because-of-relationship-with.jpg "Jim Biden brokered deal with Saudis 'because of relationship' with Joe 17")
Hill CEO Irvin Richter “trusted that he picked Biden over KSA [the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia] wouldn’t dare star the vice president’s brother, who would play a pivotal role in the deal.
The Republican-led Congress has promised a full probe into influence by members of Biden’s family, including Hunter and Jim.
Jim was previously investigated for his ties to Hill International.
The company’s homebuilder subsidiary, HillStone International, hired Jim as executive vice president in late 2010, and Jim took a minority interest in the company.
Six months later, it won a $1.5 billion deal to build at least 100,000 affordable homes in Iraq, thanks in part to Obama’s State Department. Joe Biden was then Obama’s manager for Iraq.
Richter told the New York Post in 2012 that Jim’s family ties played no part in landing the deal.
However, Richter’s son David Richter, who later became president of Hill International, said at a private meeting of investors in 2015 that, according to a Fox News report the following year, having “the vice president’s brother as a partner” was helpful.
Despite Jim’s lack of experience in the construction industry, Hill CEO Irv Richter called him a “good salesman,” while his website touted his “40 years of experience dealing with business executives, politicians, the legal and financial communities nationally and internationally. ‘
The deal later fell through when the Iraqi government failed to provide funding.
In 2020, David denied having any connections with Jim.
“I have no ties to the Bidens. Jim Biden worked for a Hill subsidiary for a number of years. This subsidiary does not report to me. I wasn’t in favor of investing in this company,” he told the New Jersey Globe.
“After several years of failure, it was closed at my insistence and I have never seen or heard from Jim Biden since.”