An Eastern European company whose board Hunter Biden was anxious to join was reportedly courted by Hunter Biden’s business partner using the federal position he was given during the Obama administration.
In March 2015, President Barack Obama appointed Eric Schwerin to the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad.
The Commission is a modest federal organization that, like Hunter and Schwerin’s company, lies at the nexus of private funding and U.S. government power in Eastern Europe.
The appointment allowed Schwerin, the managing director of Hunter’s now-defunct company, to represent himself as a U.S. representative, bargain with Eastern European nations about the preservation of Holocaust-era cemeteries, and bring money to the bargaining table from private businesses and individuals to pay for the preservation projects.
In the same month that Hunter was running for a position on the corporation’s board of directors, Schwerin tried to get a Latvian bank recognized on a plaque on a Commission project.
According to reports, Schwerin then abandoned his efforts to convince the bank to contribute money to the genocide memorial when he realized that any generosity would be kept a secret rather than serving as a win for the organization’s reputation.
According to reports, Schwerin abandoned his efforts to convince the bank to contribute money to the genocide memorial when he realized that any generosity would be kept a secret rather than serving as a win for the organization’s reputation.
After bringing it to Hunter’s attention less than a year prior, Schwerin was appointed to the Commission.
With a special government “Official Passport,” Schwerin was then able to travel to Eastern Europe after the appointment. Given that Schwerin and Hunter’s company, Rosemont Seneca Partners, made acquisitions in Eastern Europe mostly based on their political connections, this could be a significant benefit for Schwerin.
The Eastern European region, to which the Commission granted Schwerin access, overlapped with the milieu in which Schwerin and Hunter had long sought to project an image of being influential and connected.
He traveled with the Commission to Belarus in September 2017 and was given permission to attend a meeting at the Presidential Palace.
After that, he traveled to Poland to meet with government representatives. The United States government covered the cost of his airfare. Additionally, he considered working on a Commission project in Ukraine.
On January 19, 2017, Obama reappointed Schwerin to the commission as one of his final acts before leaving office. On September 23, 2019, Schwerin abruptly announced his resignation.
The New York Times revealed in 2015, when Schwerin was on the Commission, that its executive director was also making close to a million dollars a year as a lobbyist.
The Commission is known for corruption. One of the president’s biggest political backers, who also purchased Hunter’s pricey artwork, was just named to the same Commission by the Biden administration.
