NEW YORK CITY – Devon Archer, a former business partner of Hunter Biden awaiting sentencing in a $43 million fraud, received court permission for a family vacation in Jamaica from Nov. 23 to Nov. 30.
U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams approved the trip on Nov. 20, the 40th time she has let him leave the country since grand jurors indicted him in 2016.
Coronavirus risk in Jamaica is high and Americans should avoid nonessential travel there, according to Centers for Disease Control.
Jurors convicted Archer and two other defendants in 2018, finding they spent proceeds from bond issues of the Oglala Sioux for personal purposes.
Abrams vacated Archer’s conviction, but Second Circuit appellate judges reinstated it in October, finding she substituted her view of evidence for that of the jury.
Archer has petitioned the Second Circuit for rehearing.
Fellow defendant John Galanis casts suspicion on Archer’s travel in his current challenge of his conviction.
He claims Abrams should have recused herself because her husband Greg Andres investigated President Trump for special counsel Robert Mueller.
He also claims Abrams restricted from the trial the general knowledge that Hunter Biden and Archer were partners in soliciting foreign investors.
He signed an affidavit in January connecting persons in the Oglala Sioux fraud to persons in the Mueller investigation.
He claimed Hunter Biden was an undisclosed partner with Archer in gaining control of Burnham Securities.
“Evidence is provided that after Archer and Hunter Biden gained control of Burnham, indirect political influence was used to obtain a $5 million investment in Burnham by a Chinese firm,” Galanis wrote.
“A full vetting would reveal that Archer and Hunter Biden became the majority of directors of Burnham to continue utilizing political patronage to gain control of assets.
“While the former displays the potential of the public misconstruing the court’s impartiality, a far more serious concern is raised in the court allowing Archer to travel while on bail.
“Many of the travel permits are to jurisdictions which do not have extradition treaties with the United States, and are suspiciously venues frequent to parties of interest in the Mueller investigation.”
Abrams has allowed Archer to visit China, United Kingdom, Jamaica, Italy, England, Spain, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Kazakhstan, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Mexico, the Philippines, Turks and Caicos islands, Ukraine, Serbia, and French Antilles.