A Chinese business executive with close ties to Hunter Biden and a top former adviser to Joe Biden when he was vice president is facing legal action after failing to pay a New York designer millions in “contractually-owed payments,” according to court records reviewed by Fox News Digital.
The son of “Chinese billionaires” who runs a vast real estate empire in China, Bo Zhang previously offered to wire Hunter Biden tens of thousands of dollars to cover expenses.
Zhang is also in the middle of a civil dispute with Jacob Barton, a prominent New York-based designer whose company was instrumental in designing the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, among other famous museums and brands.
Local Projects, an entity founded by Barton, and Zhang’s entity, Harves Bridge, entered into an agreement in October 2020 to “form a company called DreamCube Innovations LLC,” whose purpose was to “design and build interactive sports gaming centers for the Chinese market,” the court filings showed.
More than $4 million in payments were never delivered to Barton, the complaint alleges.
Francis “Fran” Person, who served as a top adviser to Vice President Biden from 2009 to 2014 and introduced Hunter Biden to Zhang in 2015, is the co-founder and CEO of DreamCube Innovations, according to a previous FOX Business report.Â
Fast Company described DreamCube in a 2021 profile piece as an “enticing new technology and brand that’s already signed deals with the NBA as well as with the Manchester United soccer club” that is set up “across China.”
“It’s humbling to work with incredibly creative, talented, and passionate people to push technology and immersive experiences to another level,” Person wrote in a now-private post on his personal Facebook, sharing the Fast Company article. “We’re living through tough times, but our future is lined with infinite possibilities.”
It is unclear whether Person, whom then-second lady Jill Biden said “has been like a son to Joe and me” and “will always be a part of our family” in a Politico profile piece, is involved in the arbitration case.
However, one of the court filings mentioned a May 2021 email Person sent on behalf of DreamCube, acknowledging that DreamCube was late on payments and promised that Harves would “catch up with the quarterly payments and get us back on schedule.”Â
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