On Sunday, Politico published a tome to the tune of over 7,000 words from Ben Schreckinger laying out a disturbing tale of Biden family corruption enveloping Jim Biden and a sham hospital chain that, while he tried to bring his brother Joe on board and floated giving him equity, mired in claims of Medicare fraud and a collapse with deadly consequences for rural communities.
One of their few honest journalists intrepidly covering the Bidens, Schreckinger’s bombshell hadn’t been mentioned on any of the “big three” networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC across their flagship morning and evening newscasts.
His one mistake? His editors put forward a lame headline: “Biden’s brother used his name to promote a hospital chain. Then it collapsed.”
Schreckinger’s opening bode ill with Jim trading on his brother’s name to line his pockets using the sick (click “expand”):
In 2017, a hospital operator set out to build a rural health care empire with the help of a Philadelphia-area consultant.
The consultant, Jim Biden, had no experience running hospitals. But he did understand the federal government and had ties to labor unions. Perhaps more important, he was the younger brother of Joe Biden.
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For then 67-year-old Jim Biden, the third of four Biden siblings, his ties to his older brother made up much of his pitch as he pursued deals that could help Americore make money from drug rehab, lab testing and even cancer treatment.
“This would be a perfect platform to expose my Brothers team to [your] protocol,” Jim Biden wrote to the CEO of a Tampa-area company that controlled licensing rights to an experimental cancer treatment the hospital operator wanted to offer. “Could provide a great opportunity for some real exposure.”
The email, obtained by POLITICO from a person close to the company, documents one of the many ways in which Jim Biden invoked his brother’s name and clout in the course of his work with Americore, which has since gone bankrupt, wreaking havoc in rural communities in the process.
Jim Biden spoke of plans to give his brother equity in Americore, according to one former Americore executive, and install him on its board, according to a second. He also said that if Americore could find a winning business model for rural health care, his brother could promote the company in a future presidential campaign, a third former executive told POLITICO. All were granted anonymity to discuss a company mired in legal and political controversy
In order to fund Americore’s expansion, Jim Biden offered to secure capital from investors in the Middle East, according to the emails and executives. When the expected money did not arrive, it aggravated Americore’s preexisting financial issues.
Like other Biden ventures, Americore failed, but this one left regular people damaged with “unpaid bills and neglected patients,” “hospital staff” going “unpaid, services dwindled, and authorities were forced to intervene” to the point that one “died of cardiac arrest in late 2018 after receiving substandard care.”
Despite it having been four years since it went broke, Schreckinger explained “federal investigators are still pursuing questions about what else happened at Americore” and, just five months ago, “the Securities and Exchange Commission accused one of Jim Biden’s business partners of fraud related to loans to the company, allegations the business partner has denied.”
But, wait, there’s more with Schreckinger revealing: “the Justice Department found that Americore’s hospital in Pennsylvania entered into sham service agreements and paid kickbacks as part of a scheme that billed the government for medically unnecessary lab tests”, which is central to “a federal prosecution of a $100 million conspiracy to defraud Medicare”.
Before things devolved and Jim Biden ran like the wind from Americore, he had big plans to tie in Joe (click “expand”):
The investigation...reveals that Jim Biden’s role at Americore was larger than previously reported: In some internal documents and investor materials his name is included among its top handful of leaders. He also helped the company seal regulatory approval to acquire the Pennsylvania hospital and personally fired Americore’s chief financial officer, according to the emails obtained by POLITICO.
The investigation also reveals that Joe Biden’s name and inner circle were more involved with the company than has been understood: In addition to the accounts provided by former executives, investor materials described Jim Biden as an adviser to his older brother. And on top of Joe Biden’s own previously reported encounter with the firm’s CEO, at least three of Joe Biden’s relatives did work with Americore. They include Jim Biden’s wife, Sara, and his son, Jamie. The president’s son, Hunter Biden also met with its CEO, and his personal doctor — current White House physician Kevin O’Connor — joined a meeting with Jim Biden and the president of a hospital being acquired by Americore, according to a former executive and emails obtained by POLITICO.
While the extent to which Joe Biden’s relatives have invoked their ties to him to advance their business careers has been a subject of ongoing controversy, the documents obtained by POLITICO demonstrate that Joe Biden was a central element of Jim Biden’s pitch to potential partners and investors during this period.
None of these Biden family members would answer specific questions related to Ameriore. The White House did not respond to detailed requests for comment.
Jim Biden has not been accused of criminal wrongdoing.
(....)
Joe Biden did benefit indirectly from his brother’s work with the firm. On the same day Jim Biden received a $200,000 payment from Americore, he made out a check for his brother Joe. The White House has said the check was for repayment of a loan, but did not respond to questions about the circumstances of the loan, including whether Joe Biden was aware of his brother’s income from Americore.
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“I was sold that Americore was going to be the salvation of rural hospitals,” said one of the former executives. “The whole thing was a scam, and it didn’t take that long to figure it out.”
Instead of covering this Biden scandal, the networks had other ideas. Between Monday’s Good Morning America on ABC and NBC’s Today, the two combined for 12 minutes and 18 seconds hyping President’s Day deals from major retailers on everything from computers to home furniture.
And, on Monday’s CBS Mornings, they spend nearly 90 seconds (82 seconds to be precise) promoting a story from last week about a lawsuit alleging data apps were addictive and harmful to the health of users.
In contrast, numerous Fox News Channel and Newsmax programs had full and partial segments devoted to this corrupt healthcare scheme depriving rural, lower-income Americans of adequate healthcare.
One such show was FNC’s America Reports, which gave four minutes and 26 seconds to informing viewers. Co-host John Roberts said Politico’s “lengthy report....claim[ed] Joe Biden was ‘a central element’ of Jim Biden's pitch to investors on a hospital chain that collapsed”.
Roberts turned to York by noting Jim Biden spent time in this venture despite having “no experience running hospitals” and nonetheless tried to get his brother Joe a slice of the pie (click “expand”):
ROBERTS: Jim Biden had no experience running hospitals, but he had the cache of the Biden name and access to the brother. In an email obtained and described by Politico — it says this “‘This would be a perfect platform to expose my Brothers team to [your] protocol,’ Jim Biden wrote to the CEO of a Tampa-area company that controlled licensing rights to an experimental cancer treatment the hospital operator wanted to offer. ‘Could provide a great opportunity for some real exposure.’” To what extent, Byron, was the cache of Joe Biden advantageous to his brother in this venture?
YORK: Oh, I think 100 percent would be the conservative estimate. I mean, really, when you look at both Hunter Biden's business and Joe Biden’s brother Jim's business, they were all in the Biden business, and it all was based on the influence of their brother and father, Joe Biden, either as a long time senator or as Vice President or, in this case, you mentioned, as the former Vice President who had just left office after eight years as Vice President. And what was going on here there was someone who told Politico that, in Jim Biden's efforts to get in with this hospital company and make a lot of money, there was a discussion of giving Joe Biden an equity stake in this. Did not happen — the whole company went bankrupt and is under investigation, but that was part of the discussions.
After noting one way Jim Biden sought to have Joe Biden join the company that, if successful, could be a major talking point in a then-hypothetical 2020 presidential campaign, Roberts and York brought up the $200,000 check Jim Biden sent to Joe after the former had received money in the same amount from Americore.
“[I]t's very suggestive, and we have not really heard details about this. In that, Politico story, they asked the White House: can you tell us something about the loan that was being repaid. And they were told absolutely nothing. So, it just continues to be a big question mark out there,” York explained.
To see the relevant FNC transcript from February 19, click here.
