Vigilant News

Eternal Vigilance is the price of liberty.

Ryan DeLarme

At Least Six Suspicious Activity Reports Were Lodged by Banks with Joe Biden’s Residence Listed, According to Senator

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U.S. Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin spent years investigating the first family’s finances and now claims that banks submitted a minimum of six reports pertaining to Hunter Biden’s international business dealings. These reports highlighted the Delaware address of President Joe Biden and sparked concerns regarding potential criminal activity such as money laundering and even human trafficking.

Thursday night, as the ranking Republican on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Johnson disclosed to John Soloman’s outlet Just the News that the Suspicious Activity Reports (SARS) documented transactions totaling approximately $12 million over multiple years, with a portion of those funds traversing Joe Biden’s residence in Wilmington, Del., where he had granted permission for his son to reside.

Johnson stated that Joe Biden would have undoubtedly detected his son’s use of his residence as a business and banking address, if only by observing the mail that arrived at the address. Further, he stated that there are ample reasons for House impeachment investigators to suspect Joe Biden of collusion in his son’s international dealings. Next week, the House will consider whether to formally authorize an impeachment investigation.

“There’d be so much activity coming into his address, in this case, Hunter Biden’s businesses, that he obviously would have to be aware,” Johnson claimed. “So, again, I just use the word obvious, It has been so obvious for so long, that Biden Inc. is a corrupt enterprise. And that this president is corrupt, that he is compromised.

“And he fully was aware of this, that he fully benefited from it. The members of his family benefited from all these millions of dollars flowing in from countries that are adversarial to America,” he added.

A few hours prior to the unsealing of a nine-count indictment against Hunter Biden in federal court in California by Special Counsel David Weiss, Johnson made this revelation. The indictment accuses Biden of engaging in a years-long tax evasion scheme, wherein he avoided paying $1.4 million in federal taxes on millions in foreign incomes originating from countries such as China, Ukraine, and Romania.

According to the indictment, “Rather than pay his taxes, the Defendant spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle.”

Johnson, in conjunction with OG Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), conducted a two-year investigation into the Biden family scandal. The investigation concluded in 2020 that Joe Biden’s family amassed millions of dollars in foreign currency from adversarial nations, thereby jeopardizing the first family’s national security. Johnson is one of the most knowledgeable members of Congress regarding the matter.

Since then, revelations from House investigators, IRS whistleblowers, and subpoenaed documents have only served to heighten Johnson’s concerns, he stated on Thursday.

“They (Biden family) did nothing for it (the money) other than they had the right name. And they were influence peddling. And the people paying these millions expected favors in return, some kind of public policy coming from the former vice president and maybe even a potential president of the United States. Now they got him. Now he’s compromised.”

Johnson stated that his team has been assisting House impeachment investigators and will provide the SAR-derived information regarding Joe Biden’s residence.

“We found six of the Treasury reports on Hunter Biden, listing his suspicious activities,” Johnson said. “The money flows in those reports are over $12 million. Now, there might be double counting in there, you just don’t really know exactly what the activity is. These reports are really meant to obviously raise awareness to prompt further investigation, which of course this Department of Justice, FBI, I don’t think did an honest job of doing.”

“But it does point out we know what’s suspicious about them and there are terms like money laundering, human trafficking, those types, that that’s why these transactions raise suspicion,” he continued. “I mean, Hunter Biden has dozens and dozens and dozens of these Treasury reports that are concerned about suspicious activities he’s undertaking in terms of money transfers. I mean, this is, again, it’s just to me, it just underscores and confirms the criminal nature, the corrupt nature of Biden family, Inc.”

Inquirers from Congress claim they have not identified over 150 SARs that have been lodged involving Biden family businesses and associates for nearly a decade. While Hunter Biden has faced charges related to firearms and taxes, it is noteworthy that neither he nor his father have ever faced formal accusations in court regarding money laundering or human trafficking. However, IRS witnesses have testified before Congress that concerns about a foreign human trafficking operation prompted the tax investigation into Hunter Biden.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) states that a Suspicious Activity notification is submitted “to report known or suspected violations of law or suspicious activity observed by financial institutions subject to the regulations of the Bank Secrecy Act.”

Prior to the September 2020 presidential election, it was reported that Senate committees chaired by Grassley and Johnson had obtained SARs detailing concerns raised by FinCEN regarding a number of foreign transactions involving companies connected to Hunter Biden.

Hunter Biden’s work for the Ukrainian energy company Burisma and the millions of dollars he was paid for his board seat were detailed in the report by Grassley and Johnson. The Senators emphasized in particular how Hunter Biden’s work intersected with his father’s, then-Vice President Joe Biden’s, administration of official U.S. policy in Ukraine.

A $3.5 million wire from the widow of a Russian oligarch and Hunter Biden’s business dealings with Ye Jianming, an energy executive with ties to the Chinese Communist Party, were also detailed in the report.

The Daily Mail had previously reported that it had reviewed Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) issued by the Treasury Department. These SARs allegedly indicate that payments from Hunter Biden’s personal and business accounts were monitored as late as December 2019 and that payments from those accounts were linked to an “Eastern European prostitution ring.”

Wells Fargo identified 25 individuals associated with the foreign prostitution operation and approximately $7 million in suspicious transactions, including checks from Hunter Biden that “could have been forged to conceal his payments to prostitutes from his business account,” as reported by the Daily Mail.

In addition, documents from IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler that were made public by the House Ways and Means Committee revealed that Hunter Biden spent money on escorts and claimed tax deductions for a portion of those payments. An investigator conducted an interview with one of Hunter Biden’s accountants and an alleged escort who described an encounter with the younger Biden for these documents.

Furthermore, it was testified by the IRS whistleblowers that they informed the Justice Department about a possible Mann Act violation while investigating Hunter Biden’s tax evasion. The Mann Act prohibits the interstate transportation of females “for the purpose of prostitution, debauchery, or any sexual activity that may result in criminal liability for any individual.”

Joe Biden’s residence has been linked to Hunter Biden’s dubious transactions on multiple occasions for this reason. Hunter Biden received two wire transfers from China in 2019 totaling $250,000 and $10,000, according to records of bank wires obtained by the House Oversight Committee in September.

James Comer, R-Kentucky, chairman of oversight, stated that two wires originating from China designated the Wilmington address of Joe Biden as the recipient. These payments were transmitted during Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.

“Bank records don’t lie, but President Joe Biden does,”  Comer said in a press release at the time. “In 2020, Joe Biden told Americans that his family never received money from China. We’ve already proved that to be a lie earlier this year, and now we know that two wires originating from Beijing listed Joe Biden’s Wilmington home as the beneficiary address when he was running for President of the United States.”

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Staff of the Washington Post Orchestrate a Walkout Amidst Contract Dispute
Outside the downtown headquarters, reporters, editors, and other personnel participated in a 24-hour strike.

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On Thursday, amid an ongoing contract dispute, hundreds of Washington Post employees walked off the job as a demonstration of their discontent with newspaper management.

Reporters, editors, and other personnel staged demonstrations outside the downtown headquarters during the 24-hour strike. Politico reported that this was the first such demonstration by newspaper employees since the 1970s.

“Washington Post employees have been negotiating with management for 18 months. We still lack a contract that keeps pace with record-level inflation and guarantees workers a living wage,” the union stated. “Meanwhile, because of our previous publisher’s mismanagement, the company has tried to balance its books by laying off nearly 40 people in the last year. Then they offered ‘voluntary’ buyouts to another 240 staffers this fall. Now The Post has threatened that if they don’t get enough people to leave, more layoffs will be next.”

Interim CEO of the Washington Post Patty Stonesifer informed employees in October of this year that the organization intended to offer voluntary buyouts to 240 personnel, or just under 10% of the paper’s estimated 2,500 staff.

“The Post’s goal remains the same as it has from the start of our negotiations: to reach an agreement with the Guild that meets the needs of our employees and the needs of our business,” a spokesperson for the outlet told Politico.

 

IRS Whistleblower Verifies Hunter Biden Received Nearly $5 Million for Personal Expenses from Democrat Donor

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Tuesday in closed-door testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee, Internal Revenue Service agent Joseph Ziegler disclosed that Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, obtained loans amounting to nearly $5 million from a donor for personal expenditures.

“Hunter appeared to follow a pattern of attempting to avoid paying taxes on relevant income. This first started with Hunter not reporting the Burisma income in 2014 and allegedly falsely claiming that it was a loan to him,” Ziegler said in his testimony.

“He, again, tried to claim the millions in income earned from Hudson West III was a loan to him, which was refuted by the evidence and was not allowed by his tax accountants. This continued into 2020, 2021 and 2022, in which Hunter received approximately $4.9 million in payments for personal expenses, again in the form of a loan and gift from Democratic Donor Kevin Patrick Morris,” he added.

Morris, according to Ziegler, also repaid Hunter’s past-due taxes.

“As stated in my previous testimony, I read a note from Hunter Biden’s 2020 tax return that Hunter Biden received a loan from a 3rd party, known to be Kevin Patrick Morris, in paying off Hunter Biden’s delinquent taxes,” he said.

Ziegler’s interview corroborates reporting from last month that since Joe Biden began his presidential campaign, Kevin Morris and Hunter Biden have taken out a succession of loans totaling $5.3 million.

Ziegler and Gary Shapley, who oversaw the IRS investigation into Hunter Biden’s tax issues and are also whistleblowers, have made allegations that the U.S. Justice Department obstructed their investigation and halted certain actions that they were prepared to execute based on multiple leads.

According to Ziegler, Hunter’s tax accountant said the 2017 and 2018 tax liabilities were “discussed with Hunter Biden on February 11, 2020, and that he elected to not remit the tax payments because he did not have the resources to pay them.”

“It is noted that the month prior to this, Morris made a $160,000 tax payment, in an attempt to pay off Hunter Biden’s delinquent 2015 tax debt, which was a point of contention with Hunter’s ex-wife at the time,” he said. “Hunter may have been in breach of his marital separation agreement and Hunter’s ex-wife at the time was having an issue renewing her passport due to the delinquent tax debt.”

Additionally, Ziegler illustrated how Hunter’s international business dealings with the Ukrainian energy firm Burisma might have been associated with his father.

He revealed that on April 17, 2015, Vadym Pozharskyi, advisor to the Burisma Board of Directors, thanked Hunter via email for “the opportunity to meet your father and spend time together.”

Ziegler stated that investigators “were never granted the opportunity to interview Joseph Biden” to ascertain the contents of the meeting.

The testimony of the whistleblower occurred as the House Republican Party prepares to hold a formal vote next week regarding the initiation of an impeachment investigation against Biden.

The Ways and Means Committee voted Tuesday to “release 56 new pages of evidence showing that then-Vice President Joe Biden used multiple email aliases and private email addresses to communicate with his son’s business associate and main financial architect.” in response to the closed-door testimony of the whistleblowers.

The committee has established a connection between Hunter and the private email and aliases.

“The president appears now to not only have had knowledge but also been intimately involved in Hunter Biden’s business dealings,” read a committee press release. “The material released today further corroborates the previous testimony of IRS agents Joseph Ziegler and Gary Shapley highlighting the incredible level of access Hunter Biden and his business partners had in Joe Biden’s public office while working for foreign businesses.”

A message from Morris to a “Biden family accountant” stating that Hunter’s delinquent taxes posed a “considerable risk personally and politically” and needed to be reconciled was among the emails that were discovered.

Federal Agencies Report Breaches by Iranian Hackers, Numerous U.S. States Affected

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According to U.S. and Israeli authorities, numerous organizations in the United States were compromised by Iran-affiliated hackers who targeted an Israeli-made industrial control device. A minor water authority in western Pennsylvania was among the many organizations compromised.

“The victims span multiple U.S. states,” an advisory emailed to The Associated Press late Friday by the FBI, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and Israel’s National Cyber Directorate.

The number of compromised organizations was not specified, and no other details were provided.

Federal officials informed Matthew Mottes, chairman of the Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa, which discovered it had been infiltrated on November 25, that the same group also compromised four other utilities and an aquarium, on Thursday.

Even though there is no evidence linking Iran to the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, which instigated the conflict in Gaza, cybersecurity experts anticipate that pro-Palestinian hacktivists and Iranian-backed hackers will intensify cyberattacks against Israel and its allies in the wake of the incident. Indeed, that has occurred.

The multiagency advisory provided information that CISA did not have when it confirmed the Pennsylvania breach on Wednesday: that vulnerable Vision Series programmable logic controllers manufactured by Unitronics are utilized in industries other than water and water treatment facilities.

These sectors include “energy, food and beverage manufacturing, and healthcare,” according to the advisory. The apparatus controls various processes, such as the discharge of fluids, temperature, and pressure.

Crews were compelled to transition to manual operation after the Aliquippa hack prompted employees to temporarily cease pumping at a remote station that regulates water pressure for two neighboring towns. On the compromised device, the hackers left a digital calling card that stated “any Israeli-made equipment is a legal target.”

According to the multiagency advisory, it remained uncertain whether the hackers attempted to further infiltrate the compromised networks. They were granted access that facilitated “more profound cyberphysical effects on processes and equipment,” according to the document.

The hackers, who identify as “Cyber Av3ngers,” are reportedly affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps of Iran, a foreign terrorist organization designated by the United States in 2019. The group has reportedly been targeting Unitronics devices since at least November 22.

An online search conducted on the engine Shodan on Saturday uncovered over 200 internet-connected devices in the United States and over 1,700 worldwide.

The advisory notes that Unitronics devices are shipped with a default password, which is discouraged by experts due to the increased susceptibility to malware. In accordance with established guidelines, devices need to have an initial password that is distinct from the rest. It is assumed that the compromised devices were accessed by the hackers through “exploitation of cybersecurity vulnerabilities, such as inadequate password protection and internet connectivity.”

According to authorities, a considerable number of water utilities have neglected cybersecurity.

In response to the Aliquippa hack, three Pennsylvania congressmen asked the U.S. Justice Department in a letter to investigate. Americans must know their drinking water and other basic infrastructure is safe from “nation-state adversaries and terrorist organizations,” U.S. Sens. John Fetterman and Bob Casey and U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio said. Cyber Av3ngers claimed in an Oct. 30 social media post to have hacked 10 water treatment stations in Israel, though it is not clear if they shut down any equipment.

According to Sergey Shykevich of Check Point, the organization has escalated and broadened its focus on Israeli critical infrastructure since the inception of the Israel-Hamas conflict. Before the events of October 7, Iran and Israel were involved in a low-level cyberconflict. The AP has not received a response from Unitronics regarding the breaches.

A federal appeals court decision prompted the EPA to rescind a rule that would have required U.S. public water systems to conduct cybersecurity testing as part of their routine federally mandated audits. The attack occurred less than one month later. A federal appeals court decision in a case filed by Missouri, Arkansas, and Iowa, with the support of a water utility trade group, instigated the reversal.

 

Fetterman Calls on Senate to Boot Mendez After Santos Expulsion
In a surprising move of partisan-transcending integrity, Congressman John Fetterman calls for the suspension of New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez as the House expels George Santos

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On Friday, Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania asked again for New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez to be kicked out of the Senate. This came after the House voted out Republican Rep. George Santos earlier in the day.

Controversies have been leveled against Menendez, accusing him of serving as an Egyptian government foreign agent. Despite submitting his plea of not guilty and resisting demands for his resignation, he ultimately relinquished his position as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

During his appearance on “The View,” Fetterman stated:

“We have a colleague in the Senate that actually does much more sinister and serious kinds of things: Sen. Menendez. He needs to go. And if you are going to expel Santos, how can you allow somebody like Menendez to remain in the Senate?”

Amidst a federal indictment detailing 23 counts against Santos and a House Ethics Committee report alleging a multitude of improper activities, the House of Representatives voted 311-214 to expel him.