Here is what you don't hear in the media:
Vice presidential candidate Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden and brother James Biden owe $1 million to SimmonsCooper law firm of East Alton from a hedge fund buyout that fell apart in 2006.
SimmonsCooper attorneys have contributed hundreds of thousands to campaigns of Senator Biden, his other son Beau Biden, and John Markell, current candidate for governor, while turning Delaware into a national magnet for asbestos lawsuits.
In 2005 and 2006, SimmonsCooper contributed at least $114,250 to Delaware Sen. Joe Biden's campaign for a seventh term. Biden's former presidential bid received at least $46,450 from SimmonsCooper last year.SimmonsCooper contributed at least $34,800 to Biden's son, Beau Biden, in his successful campaign for Delaware attorney general in 2006.
The firm where Beau Biden worked -- Bifferato, Gentilotti, Biden & Balick -- has filed asbestos suits in New Castle County Court in Wilmington for SimmonsCooper, representing plaintiffs from all over the nation.
In 2005, SimmonsCooper shifted its focus away from Madison County, Illinois, after Chief Judge Edward Ferguson transferred the mammoth asbestos docket from Circuit Judge Nicholas Byron to Circuit Judge Daniel Stack.The firm targeted Delaware because many businesses incorporate there and the firm's roster of defendants always includes Delaware corporations.
But no one at SimmonsCooper held a Delaware law license, so Beau Biden's firm filed the suits and SimmonsCooper identified itself as, "of counsel."Beau Biden even dropped a client he had defended against asbestos claims in order to accommodate SimmonsCooper. At the same time, Sen. Biden obstructed reform of asbestos litigation on the Senate Judiciary Committee!
On New Year's Eve 2005, SimmonsCooper attorneys, staff and spouses contributed at least $52,250 to Biden's campaign for a seventh Senate term.In the following five weeks the firm contributed at least $56,100.Campaign reports don't allow full accounting from any source because contributors ignore employment information requests or many channel cash through others.While SimmonsCooper backed Joe Biden's reelection, he prepared to run for president.Hunter Biden meanwhile earned his living as a lobbyist.
According to court records filed by Lotito, Joe Biden wanted Hunter Biden to find a different line of work because he couldn't afford to run for president as father of a lobbyist.Lotito claims he and James Biden discussed Hunter Biden's job prospects.Lotito met James Biden in 2002 and they invested together in 2005, according to Lotito.
Everyone agreed that the Bidens and Lotito would form a corporation to buy 54 percent of Paradigm for $21.3 million in cash.They would install Hunter Biden as chief executive officer at a salary of $1.2 million.
Lotito sued the Bidens in January 2007, alleging fraud and breach of fiduciary duty.
In the hedge fund case, Hunter Biden and James Biden seek to shift their debt to former partner Joseph Lotito through counterclaims in a fraud suit he filed against them.
SimmonsCooper committed $2 million but withheld the second million after seeing how Lotito wasted the first million, according to Hunter Biden and James Biden.
Although the dispute hinges on the SimmonsCooper investment, neither side has alleged that Lotito knew or didn't know that SimmonsCooper would invest.
While SimmonsCooper leader John Simmons continues litigating in Delaware through the Bifferato firm, he faces charges that one of his companies, YTB International, operated a nationwide pyramid scheme. Simmons, principal owner of YTB International, resigned from its board Sept. 3.
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