Republicans in Congress are playing down the origins of nearly $10 million in allegedly illicit funds received by CelticCapri Corp., a company affiliated with President Joe Biden, in 2017.
The funds are linked to allegations that the Biden family received the amount as part of a bribery scheme involving a Ukrainian individual.
According to a 2019 report by The Associated Press, Joe and Jill Biden’s income rose from $400,000 in 2016 (Joe Biden’s last full year as vice president) to $11 million in 2017.
CelticCapri Corp. has been used by the Bidens as a commercial entity for their activities after leaving the White House. Most of his earnings, the cable service reports, came from Joe Biden’s memoir, “Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship and Purpose.”
Scrutiny over his tax return intensified after it was revealed earlier this year that an FBI informant had come forward in 2017 with allegations that two members of the Biden family had paid $10 million . That payment was allegedly in exchange for Joe Biden using his influence to pressure the Ukrainian government to fire Attorney General Viktor Shokin, who was investigating Burisma Holdings, the Ukrainian energy company where Hunter Biden worked.
Shokin was fired in March 2016, and Obama administration officials said it was because he failed to investigate corruption in Ukraine.
Although the Biden campaign previously made financial disclosures available online (the link has since been replaced by a Biden 2024 campaign fundraising page), Bob Anderson, a writer for The Federalist, noted that the campaign only provided individual returns and did not include any S. – corporation returns, such as those of CelticCapri Corp.
As of 2019, “Promise Me, Dad” had sold over 300,000 copies, according to Anderson’s analysis. However, using the standard combined royalty rates of 7.5% for paperback sales and 15% for hardback sales, Biden would have earned roughly $800,000. This suggests there is still a significant amount of unaccounted income in the millions of dollars, Anderson argued.
During an episode of his podcast, “Verdict with Ted Cruz,” Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas commented, “You’re looking at a tax return that contains $10 million in cash from an undisclosed source.”
Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who has been actively investigating corruption allegations involving the Biden family, tweeted last week that he believes corruption extends to federal government agencies and the mainstream media. He called for more whistleblowers to step forward and reveal the truth as a means of restoring integrity and credibility.
“It wouldn’t surprise anyone in this town if Joe Biden received millions of dollars from selling the country in a bribery scheme and then stashed that money in shady shell companies,” Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ) previously tweeted.
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