How Long Has The FBI Been Investigating Hunter Biden?
Earlier today in Two Puzzles I suggested that the when the FBI sought Hunter Biden's laptop from the Delaware computer repair shop run by John Paul Mac Isaac, they opened an investigation based on Isaac's concern over sexually graphic images of underage girls stored on the laptop. I made that suggestion based on what I considered to be the inherent improbability that Isaac--even with the help of his father--could have sorted through a vast amount of data on the laptop and come up with a coherent understanding of all the transactions that Hunter Biden was involved in.
However, we now know, courtesy of Fox News, that that was not how the investigation developed. The FBI agents from the Wilmington Resident Agency (RA) who came to visit Isaac in November, 2019, returned in early December with a subpoena for the laptop. But the subpoena was issued under a 272D case file--money laundering:
Laptop connected to Hunter Biden linked to FBI money laundering probe
It is unclear, at this point, whether the investigation is ongoing or if it was directly related to Hunter Biden
I continue to question whether Isaac would have been able to articulate to the agents the elements of a money laundering violation, based on his perusal of the contents of the hard drive. And that raises the question whether Hunter Biden may have been implicated in some way in an already ongoing investigation--perhaps not as a main subject, but as involved in some way in money laundering. This isn't a far fetched idea, given that there are clear indications that Biden was, in fact, involved in laundering money to help influential Russians circumvent US sanctions.
Here's an excerpt from the Fox News account:
The FBI’s subpoena of a laptop and hard drive purportedly belonging to Hunter Biden came in connection with a money laundering investigation in late 2019, according to documents obtained by Fox News and verified by multiple federal law enforcement officials who reviewed them.
It is unclear, at this point, whether the investigation is ongoing or if it was directly related to Hunter Biden.
Multiple federal law enforcement officials, as well as two separate government officials, confirmed the authenticity of these documents, which were signed by FBI Special Agent Joshua Wilson. Wilson did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
One of the documents, obtained by Fox News, was designated as an FBI “Receipt for Property” form, which details the bureau’s interactions with John Paul Mac Isaac, the owner of “The Mac Shop” who reported the laptop’s contents to authorities.
The document has a “Case ID” section, which is filled in with a hand-written number: 272D-BA-3065729.
According to multiple officials, and the FBI’s website, “272” is the bureau’s classification for money laundering, while “272D” refers to “Money Laundering, Unknown SUA [Specified Unlawful Activity] —White Collar Crime Program,” according to FBI documents. One government official described “272D” as “transnational or blanket.”
“BA” indicates the case was opened in the FBI’s Baltimore field office, sources said.
The documents state that the subpoena was carried out in Wilmington, Del., which falls under the jurisdiction of the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office.
It now seems possible that Isaac's offer of the Hunter Biden laptop to the FBI came as a remarkable coincidence--one that offered an inside glimpse into the nexus of Big Money, politics, and influence peddling. If that was the case, it's small wonder that the FBI was eager to prevent the seamier details of Biden's excuse for a life from short circuiting a major money laundering investigation.