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October 17, 2023

Is Hunter Biden making money off the migrant border surge?

By Monica Showalter

Is the open border a cash cow for the likes of Hunter Biden and other members the Biden family mafia? Or their friends?

It may be if a report from Steve Bannon's war room has it right.

According to the show's executive producer and co-host, Natalie Winters, Hunter Biden has (or had) a stake in ePlata, a migrant remittance firm:

EXC: Hunter Biden Owned Financial Stake In Digital Banking Platform For Undocumented Migrants, Introduced Founder To Joe Biden. ➡️ ePlata, a digital banking platform partnered with the Mexican government to enable migrants to send and receive remittances, has deep financial and personnel ties to Hunter Biden. The fintech startup describes itself as a “multi-balance, multi-currency digital wallet and payment ecosystem” and was founded by one of Hunter Biden's long-time business partners Jeff Cooper. Documents unearthed from Hunter Biden's hard drive also reveal that the president’s son held an 8.25 percent stake in ePlata through his company Owasco LLC, though it is unclear if he still retains the position. Several individuals who have financial ties to Hunter Biden, however, have recently been appointed to the company’s Board of Directors. Emails obtained from Hunter Biden’s hard drive prove the president’s son was profiting off of ePlata, receiving a $20,000 wire transfer from the company in April 2015. ePlata "offers worldwide banking without the need for a traditional bank account," continues a company synopsis, which also raises concerns about the platform potentially being used for money laundering and other criminal activities including human trafficking.

Her tweet is long and detailed, showing how Hunter did have a stake apparently as late as 2018 based on his laptop-from-Hell emails, and may still hold it today. 

 

 

What's more, multiple people linked to the Bidens have turned up on the board of that company. Any funny business there? Maybe Congress can ask.

More migrants, more remittances, more remittances, more fees for ePlata, which can turn out to be a pretty penny as the migrant surge surges. 

According to the International Monetary Fund:

The costs of a remittance transaction include a fee charged by the sending agent, typically paid by the sender, and a currency-conversion fee for delivery of local currency to the beneficiary in another country. Some smaller money transfer operators require the beneficiary to pay a fee to collect remittances, presumably to account for unexpected exchange-rate movements. In addition, remittance agents (especially banks) may earn an indirect fee in the form of interest (or “float”) by investing funds before delivering them to the beneficiary. The float can be significant in countries where overnight interest rates are high.

That's where a company like ePlata for the "unbanked" would come in. EPlata, Winters notes, is a big company for migrant remittances. But it would probably be some kind of startup, given that it doesn't appear on any lists that I could find for remittance-transfering companies. One such list is here. But even a small company could reap record profits charging the going rate of about 7% per remittance send, given that multiple countries have reported record remittances since Joe Biden opened the border and began flying purported asylum-seekers on into the states.

In addition, costs are falling, so it's become cheaper and cheaper to send remittances.

According to TopTal's financial experts, in a peer-reviewed article:

The heavy pressure exerted by international organizations (G20, UN, etc.) on remittance companies to lower the costs of remittances for users is placing its main players under increased scrutiny toward their prices. Considering that banks charge the highest prices, one would expect them to be feeling the most pressure from this movement, but banks are diversified organizations with many other sources of revenue. International payments is not a core service for a bank, compared to an MTO [money transfer organization, or remittance company], which is their entire raison d’être. Revenue for international money transfer companies is divided into two parts: a transaction fee and the foreign exchange (“FX”) spread charged to the consumer. Western Union, for example, had a split of 70% and 27% between fee and FX revenue respectively in its 2016 results.

According to the World Bank:

In 2022, remittance flows to low and middle-income countries are expected to reach $630 billion, more than three times the total of development aid. Remittances are on track to overtake flows of foreign direct investment to developing countries. On the negative side, emigration of skilled workers can affect the delivery of health and education services in small economies.

According to the English language section of the ePlata website:

Why is it time for ePlata?

ePlata is a financial lifestyle app designed to connect you to the digital economy through a multi-currency, multi-balance digital wallet. ePlata makes your money work for you by conveniently offering a wide range of products and services that free your money from avoidable middlemen, unnecessary fees and geographic borders. Download ePlata for free and do more, save more and send more to anyone, in any currency, anywhere in the world from your phone or computer.
Unnecessary geographic borders? Hmmm. They wouldn't have an interest in an open border now, would they? 
 
We know it's lucrative. Recall also that when Kamala Harris announced a slew of corporate investments in the Northern Triangle countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, during her "root causes of migration" phase as Biden's border czar, one of the few companies she was able to attract to her project was Davivienda, a Colombian bank-based remittance firm.
 
They already had a presence in the region before this company would announce new services in the migrant-shipping sector. I doubt it was because of Harris's persuasiveness. Obviously, they saw an opportunity, much as ePlata must have:
 
Davivienda is a multi-national, Colombian bank with a presence in the United States, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama. To date, Davivienda has worked to expand financial inclusion by expanding its digital payment system, DAVIPLATA, and by increasing access to credit, particularly for women. In Colombia, Davivienda has connected nearly 13 million individuals to its digital services, 5 million of whom were previously unbanked. As part of this Call to Action, in collaboration with public and private sector partners, Davivienda will commit to connecting 1 million unbanked individuals in the Northern Triangle with financial services, including via its DAVIPLATA platform. Davivienda will also commit to contributing $500 million in loans to support low-income housing, small- and medium-sized businesses, renewable energy projects, and women entrepreneurs.
It sounds like it's another part of the open-borders gravy train, this one tenatively linked to Harris. Open the border, and they will come.
 
It also may be significant that Joe Biden granted temporary protected status to half a million Venezuelan migrants in order to issue them work permits. More work permits, more remittances.
 
In which case, the possibility that Joe Biden, his wayward son or his cronies having a monetary stake in the open border and migrants breaking immigration law to enter the U.S. is simply appalling. That's Biden's bad policy having a greed motive, pay for play at the expense of the country.
 
Is anyone in Congress on this? It looks like a potentially rich vein of Biden family corruption if Hunter Biden still has his stake, and if not him, then Biden's political friends on their board. Its another item on the long list of scandals Congress must shed daylight on.
 
Image: Photo illustration by Monica Showalter with use of Acaben, via Wikimedia Commons image // CC BY-SA 2.0 and Pixabay public domain image.
 
 
 
 
 
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