The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from Hunter Biden’s former business partner regarding his criminal conviction for his alleged role in defrauding a Native American tribe.
Devon Archer, who served on Ukrainian energy company Burisma’s board alongside Hunter Biden, previously lost an appeal before the high court. A federal judge sentenced Archer to prison in 2018 for allegedly defrauding the tribe by fraudulently issuing $60 million in tribal bonds after he was convicted by a jury.
However, his conviction was thrown out in late 2018 by U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams in Manhattan because she was “left with an unwavering concern that Archer is innocent of the crimes charged,” according to Reuters.
Devon Archer, a former business associate of Hunter Biden, in Washington, D.C., on July 31. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Archer’s conviction was reinstated by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals a month before the 2020 election and he received a one-year and one-day prison sentence in February 2022.
Despite the sentence, Archer’s lawyer, Matthew Schwartz, has maintained his innocence and said they intended to file a series of appeals, which has delayed Archer serving his sentence.
“Mr. Archer is obviously disappointed with today’s sentence, and intends to appeal. It is unfortunate that the judge, who has previously expressed concern that Mr. Archer is innocent of the crimes charged and reiterated that belief today, felt that she was constrained not to act on her independent assessment of the evidence,” Schwartz said in February 2022.
Hunter Biden and his former business associate Devon Archer (Fox News)
The ordeal stems from Archer’s alleged role in defrauding a Native American tribal entity and various investment advisory clients of tens of millions of dollars in connection with the issuance of bonds by the tribal entity and the subsequent sale of those bonds through “fraudulent and deceptive means,” according to the Department of Justice.
Hunter Biden was not involved with the scheme.
Devon Archer arrives on Capitol Hill to testify before the House Oversight Committee on July 31, 2023. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Abrams previously ruled that evidence presented earlier against Archer did not show that he “knew that the bond issue was fraudulent, or that he received any personal benefit from it,” according to Reuters. However, she would later say in 2022 that the alleged crime was “too serious” to let Archer get no prison time, claiming that “there’s no dispute about the harm caused to real people.”
Schwartz, Archer’s attorney, did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.