A federal inmate sentenced to 15 years in prison for scamming a Native American tribal entity out of tens of millions of dollars appears to be the new star witness in House Republicans' quest to impeach President Joe Biden, official documents show.
Reps. James Comer (R-KY), Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Andy Biggs (R-AZ) Tuesday sent out two more angry letters — this time to Manhattan-based assistant U.S. Attorney Negar Tekeei and Federal Bureau of Prisons Director Collette Peters — demanding information about why Jason Galanis' 2023 pleas for early release were denied.
"The Committees held a transcribed interview with Jason Galanis, a former business partner of President Biden's son, Hunter Biden," the trio explained.
"Galanis made several allegations against [Bureau of Prisons] officials, including that he has been the 'victim of a pattern of retribution by the Department of Justice in order to prevent my home confinement, which would have allowed full and free access to congressional investigators.'"
Galanis pleaded guilty in January 2020 to charges linked to multiple frauds, among them funneling about $8.5 million of Wakpamni Lake Community Corporation funds into a personal bank account, according to a lengthy press release from the U.S. Attorney's office.
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He was also tied to schemes to defraud an investment firm and a publicly traded company, according to the release. The Daily Mail noted Galanis was part of a notorious New York City crime family whose patriarch was targeted by then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
In February 2023, about three years after he was given his 15-year sentence, Galanis requested home confinement under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, House Republicans wrote.
Galanis went through a "lengthy approval process" that was first okayed by the Bureau of Prisons in California but reversed on June 13, one day after the Oversight Committee announced its subpoena of his convicted co-conspirator Devon Archer.
Archer was a former business partner of Hunter Biden — who was not involved in the alleged bribery scheme — according to an NBC report last month on Archer's failed appeal.
Hunter Biden's name appeared during the investigation as an unpaid member of the Burnham Group, of which both Galanis and Archer were also members, the Wall Street Journal reported. Biden denied knowledge of any schemes his partners planned and did not face charges.
This new interest in Galanis arrives just weeks after former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov was arrested on charges he fed investigators false corruption allegations against Joe and Hunter Biden.
