A former senior FBI official leaked details of planned arrests to an employee of a Chinese conglomerate linked to the Biden family, undermining a federal criminal probe, according to a Justice Department watchdog report.
Charles McGonigal, who led the FBI’s New York counterintelligence division from 2016 to 2018, was sentenced in 2023 to 50 months in prison for conspiring with a Russian oligarch to skirt U.S. sanctions. The DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General revealed Thursday that McGonigal also tipped off the China Energy Fund Committee (CEFC), its executive Patrick Ho, and affiliated firms about the bureau’s investigation.
While leading the FBI’s investigation into CEFC, McGonigal reportedly met with an Albanian working for the company in June 2017, telling them “something to the effect of ‘we are looking into them’ or ‘we are going after them,’” according to the Albanian official, who was identified as “Person B” in a 2022 interview with the Bureau, the New York Post reported.
“Person B said that he understood ‘we’ to be the FBI and ‘them’ to be CEFC China or CEFC NGO,” the DOJ’s inspector general report said.
At the time of the CEFC probe, it was only known to “a small number of government personnel.”
The day after meeting with McGonigal, Person B traveled to Washington, D.C., and relayed the FBI insider’s information to Patrick Ho, warning him that federal agents were preparing arrests tied to CEFC.
Person B then passed the tip to CEFC Chairman Ye Jianming, who in turn alerted another FBI target—identified in the watchdog report as “Target 3”—about the looming enforcement action.
By November 2017, Person B reconnected with McGonigal after being invited by Ho to a CEFC-sponsored event in New York. Though overseas at the time, Person B expressed uncertainty about attending, citing concerns over the ongoing FBI probe, The Post reported.
“Stay in Albania,” McGonigal advised Person B, the IG report said.
The FBI official also said something to the effect of “we are ready for them” or “ready for action,” Person B said in 2022 interview.
Person B has insisted he did not share the tip with anyone at CEFC. Ho then traveled to the United States and was arrested on bribery and money laundering charges upon his arrival from China.
House Oversight Committee documents show that Hunter Biden once described Ho, CEFC’s vice-chairman, as both a client and the “f—ing spy chief of China.”
Ho agreed to pay Hunter a $1 million retainer for “Counsel to matters related to US law and advice pertaining to the hiring and legal analysis of any US Law Firm or Lawyer,” the documents show.
In separate communications with CEFC, Hunter Biden wrote that potential agreements could be “interesting for me and my family.”
Records show that Hunter and his uncle, James Biden, collected $4.8 million from CEFC China Energy, an affiliate of the conglomerate, between 2017 and 2018, said The Post.
As the FBI began to dig into leaks surrounding the CEFC probe, agents concluded that Ho “decided to attend the CEFC event after James Biden or another individual likely told Ho, relying on information provided by a private investigator, that it was safe for Ho to return to the United States.”
According to the inspector general’s report, the FBI interviewed a retired U.S. Secret Service agent who had been working as a private investigator. The agent said James Biden contacted him in November 2017 to ask whether an arrest warrant had been issued for Ho.
“Re new case I need ASAP—I’m in Hong Kong,” said the subject line of an email from James Biden to the retired agent.
“Have info on an individual I need a background on one specific issue. Very timely. Thanks Jim [phone number]. Please call,” the message said.
The report does not accuse James Biden of wrongdoing and does not mention Hunter Biden, The Post added.
