The US Supreme Court on January 22 refused to take the appeal from former Hunter Biden business associate Devon Archer who sought to overturn his conviction in defrauding the business arm of a South Dakota Indian tribe, NBC News reported.
In 2018, Archer was convicted of defrauding Wakpamni Lake Community Corp., the corporate arm of the Wakpamni Lake, South Dakota community of the Oglala Sioux tribe.
Archer and his associates misused millions that Wakpamni Lake Community Corp. raised by issuing bonds. Rather than investing the proceeds as they were contracted to do, Archer and his associates use the money for “personal purposes,” including purchasing luxury items like jewelry, cars, and homes, and funding their business ventures.
Hunter Biden was not involved in the fraud.
Archer’s associate Jason Galanis pleaded guilty in the case and was sentenced to 14 in prison. The other associates involved in the scheme were either convicted or pleaded guilty.
Archer denied the charges, claiming that the federal government’s case was based entirely on circumstantial evidence.
The judge in Archer’s trial threw out the jury’s conviction. However, federal prosecutors from the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York appealed the judge’s decision and the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld Archer’s conviction.
Archer appealed the Second Circuit’s decision to the Supreme Court in October of last year.
By refusing to take the case, the Supreme Court allowed Archer’s conviction to remain in place, bringing him closer to serving his prison sentence of one year and a day.
In August, Archer testified in a closed-door hearing before the House Oversight Committee about his and Hunter Biden’s foreign business deals and whether President Biden was involved.
Archer, who also served on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings with Hunter, told the committee that the company would have gone under if not for the Biden “brand.”
