WASHINGTON – A disbarred lawyer from Mississippi who served time in prison for bribery told House impeachment investigators on Thursday that he gave first brother James Biden $800,000 in loans but received only $400,000 back – presenting a new twist in the sprawling probe.
Joey Langston said in closed-door testimony that “he has no documentation or record of such loans,” according to a source familiar with his testimony.
Langston said he made four loans to James in 2016, one in 2017, and possibly others at additional times.
Langston was unsuccessfully trying to have his conviction for bribery overturned in court in 2016. It is unclear whether he was seeking a federal pardon from then-President Barack Obama during Obama’s final year in office.
Langston’s massive financial aid to the then-second brother introduces a new element of intrigue in the impeachment inquiry into the alleged corruption of the Biden family.
Langston pleaded guilty in 2008 and was sentenced to three years in federal prison for being part of a conspiracy to bribe a judge in a fee dispute involving asbestos, promising to secure favorable consideration for the state jurist for a federal judgeship.
Langston’s alleged co-conspirator in that case, fellow Mississippi lawyer Dickie Scruggs, was involved in a second case of trying to bribe a different judge with $40,000, also in a fee dispute.
James Biden was recorded on tape by FBI in 2007 – when his brother was still a senator – as part of the investigation into the second bribery case, the Washington Post reported in December.
Amid the bribery scheme, James Biden, who was not charged in the case, was in negotiations with Scruggs and co-conspirator Tim Balducci over setting up a law firm that would have employed himself, his nephew Hunter Biden, and James’ wife, Sara.
James Biden’s relation with the corrupt Mississippi lawyers has already caused raised eyebrows in the past.
Then-Sen. Biden went from being an opponent of federal legislation to sanction tobacco companies for lying about the addictiveness of their product to a proponent of the idea after Scruggs – the architect of a multibillion-dollar litigation scheme – paid $100,000 to James Biden’s lobbying firm in 1998, the Washington Post reported.
“I probably wouldn’t have hired him if he wasn’t the senator’s brother,” Scruggs told the newspaper.
Langston, who testified Thursday to Congress, hosted fundraisers for Joe Biden, ProPublica reported.
Scruggs flew Joe Biden to a fundraiser on his private plane, the Washington Post reported.
The confusion between the political and personal business of the Biden family in Mississippi echoes more well-known facets of the impeachment inquiry, which has mainly focused on foreign ventures during Joe Biden’s vice presidency as well as what two IRS whistleblowers say was a Justice Department cover-up to protect Joe and his first son, Hunter, from an investigation into alleged tax fraud, money laundering, and unregistered foreign lobbying.
Joe Biden has consistently claimed he “never” discussed business with his son or brother and said in December that he “did not” interact with their associates. Evidence including photos, emails, and witness testimony indicates Biden did indeed interact with associates of his son and brother on two commercial ventures linked to the Chinese government and its patrons from Kazakhstan, Mexico, Russia, and Ukraine.
James Biden, who transferred $240,000 to Joe Biden in 2017 and 2018 in purported repayments of opaque loans, was allegedly not subtle about the business services he offered.
“We have people all around the world who want to invest in Joe Biden,” James allegedly said in the early 2000s, when he and nephew Hunter took over the failed investment bank Paradigm, according to a 2021 book by Politico reporter Ben Schreckinger.
A lawyer for James Biden did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
WASHINGTON – A disbarred lawyer from Mississippi who served time in prison for bribery told House impeachment investigators on Thursday that he gave first brother James Biden $800,000 in loans but received only $400,000 back – presenting a new twist in the sprawling probe.
Joey Langston said in closed-door testimony that “he has no documentation or record of such loans,” according to a source familiar with his testimony.
Langston said he made four loans to James in 2016, one in 2017, and possibly others at additional times.
Langston was unsuccessfully trying to have his conviction for bribery overturned in court in 2016. It is unclear whether he was seeking a federal pardon from then-President Barack Obama during Obama’s final year in office.
Langston’s massive financial aid to the then-second brother introduces a new element of intrigue in the impeachment inquiry into the alleged corruption of the Biden family.
Langston pleaded guilty in 2008 and was sentenced to three years in federal prison for being part of a conspiracy to bribe a judge in a fee dispute involving asbestos, promising to secure favorable consideration for the state jurist for a federal judgeship.
Langston’s alleged co-conspirator in that case, fellow Mississippi lawyer Dickie Scruggs, was involved in a second case of trying to bribe a different judge with $40,000, also in a fee dispute.
James Biden was recorded on tape by FBI in 2007 – when his brother was still a senator – as part of the investigation into the second bribery case, the Washington Post reported in December.
Amid the bribery scheme, James Biden, who was not charged in the case, was in negotiations with Scruggs and co-conspirator Tim Balducci over setting up a law firm that would have employed himself, his nephew Hunter Biden, and James’ wife, Sara.
James Biden’s relation with the corrupt Mississippi lawyers has already caused raised eyebrows in the past.
Then-Sen. Biden went from being an opponent of federal legislation to sanction tobacco companies for lying about the addictiveness of their product to a proponent of the idea after Scruggs – the architect of a multibillion-dollar litigation scheme – paid $100,000 to James Biden’s lobbying firm in 1998, the Washington Post reported.
“I probably wouldn’t have hired him if he wasn’t the senator’s brother,” Scruggs told the newspaper.
Langston, who testified Thursday to Congress, hosted fundraisers for Joe Biden, ProPublica reported.
Scruggs flew Joe Biden to a fundraiser on his private plane, the Washington Post reported.
The confusion between the political and personal business of the Biden family in Mississippi echoes more well-known facets of the impeachment inquiry, which has mainly focused on foreign ventures during Joe Biden’s vice presidency as well as what two IRS whistleblowers say was a Justice Department cover-up to protect Joe and his first son, Hunter, from an investigation into alleged tax fraud, money laundering, and unregistered foreign lobbying.
Joe Biden has consistently claimed he “never” discussed business with his son or brother and said in December that he “did not” interact with their associates. Evidence including photos, emails, and witness testimony indicates Biden did indeed interact with associates of his son and brother on two commercial ventures linked to the Chinese government and its patrons from Kazakhstan, Mexico, Russia, and Ukraine.
James Biden, who transferred $240,000 to Joe Biden in 2017 and 2018 in purported repayments of opaque loans, was allegedly not subtle about the business services he offered.
“We have people all around the world who want to invest in Joe Biden,” James allegedly said in the early 2000s, when he and nephew Hunter took over the failed investment bank Paradigm, according to a 2021 book by Politico reporter Ben Schreckinger.
A lawyer for James Biden did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
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