In 2017, Hunter Biden, his uncle James Biden, and three other business partners sought an investment deal with a Chinese energy company and used future Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s good graces with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos in order to try and make the partnership happen, according to a copy of the pitch document published by The Daily Caller. In their investment pitch, Biden’s group SinoHawk sought a $10 million seed investment from CEFC China Energy, and pitched joint ventures in places like Colombia. “Mr. Biden pledged his strong personal support of the peace process and offered congratulations to Mr. Santos while underscoring ‘the importance of maintaining bipartisan support for Colombia in the United States Congress’,” the investment proposal reads, alongside a photo of Joe Biden. CEFC China Energy eventually didn’t partner with SinoHawk for the deal.

Businessman Tony Bobulinski, who was part of the SinoHawk group, said that Hunter and James “aggressively leveraged” their family’s name and reputation in order to successfully close foreign business deals. Joe Biden has repeatedly said that he never discussed business with his son, and that he never benefited from, or participated in, Hunter’s business dealings.