Lawyers for Hunter Biden appeared to use his relationship with then-Vice President Joe Biden to help him evade fraud charges as the Securities and Exchange Commission investigated a business linked to the first son, according to House Republicans. 

Lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee and House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to the SEC on Tuesday requesting documents related to its 2016 investigation into several of Hunter’s business associates over fraud associated with business entity Rosemont Seneca Bohai. In his response to the SEC for documents needed for the investigation, Hunter asked for confidentiality because of his father’s position, House Republicans said Tuesday. 

“As a threshold matter, we request that you treat this matter with the highest degree of confidentiality, consistent with Commission policy and applicable law,” Hunter’s legal team wrote on April 20, 2016, according to House Republicans. “The confidential nature of this investigation is very important to our client and it would be unfair, not just to our client, but also to his father, the Vice President of the United States, if his involvement in an SEC investigation and parallel criminal probe were to become the subject of any media attention.”

Just weeks later, the SEC charged multiple individuals associated with Rosemont Seneca, but not Hunter Biden, with fraud charges. 

According to the lawmakers, Rosemont Seneca had a bank account used “to funnel other foreign payments and benefits to Hunter Biden, including money from Ukraine and a new sports car from an oligarch in Kazakhstan.”

Devon Archer, a former partner of Hunter who was convicted over the scheme, previously testified that Hunter was the corporate secretary for Rosemont Seneca. Hunter has told the lawmakers that he did not have a position at the entity.

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Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and James Comer (R-KY) wrote that Hunter appeared to use his father’s position to escape prosecution over the fraud scheme. 

Their Tuesday letter asks SEC Chair Gary Gensler to provide documents about the agency’s investigation into the fraud, specifically in relation to Hunter Biden’s involvement with Rosemont Seneca.  They also asked for a transcribed interview with Tejal D. Shah, the attorney who led the investigation into the Rosemont Seneca fraud case.

“Mr. Biden’s response gratuitously invoked his father’s position as the Vice President in what could be interpreted as an effort to discourage further SEC scrutiny,” House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-KY) and House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) wrote. “And on May 11, 2016, the SEC published a press release — announcing the charging of seven individuals—with no mention or charging of Hunter Biden.”