Yet Hunter Remains Free?
U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams, sitting in Manhattan, said the crime was “too serious” to let Archer escape prison time, according to the New York Post.
“There’s no dispute about the harm caused to real people,” Abrams said, noting that the defrauded tribe, a branch of the Oglala Sioux, is one of America’s poorest populations.
Attorney Matthew Schwartz, representing Archer, said in court Monday that Archer was manipulated by a corrupt business person.
“He came under the influence of a person he trusted too much and didn’t ask enough questions,” Schwartz said.
“I was doing too many things at once and not paying enough attention,” Archer said, adding, “I have deep remorse for the victims of the crime.”
Archer and his associates also had been accused of misappropriating the cash that came from the bond sales, according to the Justice Department.
Here’s Joe Biden with Devon Archer — his golf buddy and Hunter’s former business partner — who was just sentenced to jail for defrauding a Native American tribe. pic.twitter.com/m9FaQIPrM3
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 28, 2022
The Native Americans were conned into issuing the bonds, the DOJ said, “through false and fraudulent representations” by an associate of Archer’s.
The group then gained control of an investment adviser and used that to have clients invest in the bonds even though “the Tribal Bonds fell outside of the investment parameters set forth in the investment advisory contracts of certain … clients.”
The Justice Department said the bond sale proceeds were supposed to be put into an annuity but were instead used “to support the defendants’ business and personal interests.“
“Archer became a key player in the scheme, anticipating that, when the scheme succeeded, he would helm the resulting conglomerate and, ultimately, reap massive profits from its sale,” prosecutors said in a sentencing memo.
Archer once sat on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings with Biden and has been photographed with both him and his father, President Joe Biden.