Hunter Biden didn't disclose $400,000 in income from Burisma, according to business partner: report

Hunter Biden was told by one of his business partners that he did not disclose $400,000 in income from the Burisma gas company on his 2014 tax returns, according to an email obtained by NBC News.

The reported email from Eric Schwerin, then president of Rosemont Seneca Partners, informs Joe Biden's son that he failed to disclose $400,000 in income from the Ukrainian gas company. Hunter Biden was on the board of Burisma Holdings.

Schwerin sent the email to Hunter on Jan. 16, 2017, to advise him to "amend" his 2014 tax returns with the earnings from Burisma.

"In 2014 you joined the Burisma board and we still need to amend your 2014 returns to reflect the unreported Burisma income," Schwerin's email to Hunter reads.

The email also reveals that Hunter was paid more than $1.2 million for the year, which included the $400,000 from Burisma as well as income from Rosemont Seneca Advisors and a legal firm. The report does not say if there was any further communication regarding the $400,000 from Hunter Biden or Schwerin.

NBC News said it was provided the email by Rudy Giuliani's attorney Robert Costello, who claimed that he was given a copy of one of Hunter's laptop hard drives that were left at a computer repair shop in Delaware. NBC News noted that it did not have access to the full drive.

Hunter Biden is now the subject of a federal tax investigation. On Wednesday, Hunter issued a statement that was released by the Biden-Harris transition team.

"I learned yesterday for the first time that the U.S. Attorney's Office in Delaware advised my legal counsel, also yesterday, that they are investigating my tax affairs," Biden said. "I take this matter very seriously but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisors."

The Biden-Harris transition team released a statement that said, "President-elect Biden is deeply proud of his son, who has fought through difficult challenges, including the vicious personal attacks of recent months, only to emerge stronger."

On Friday, a Fox News report claimed that Hunter Biden is under "yet another federal criminal investigation into the Biden family that appears to be focused specifically on Hunter Biden's business dealings with China and his relationship with Burisma Holdings in Ukraine."

Fox News host Martha MacCallum stated, "This is now the fourth federal investigation that has been reported in recent days."

Contents from Hunter Biden's laptop first appeared in a New York Post report published in October, which linked Joe Biden to a top executive at Burisma. The purported emails also connected Hunter Biden to a Chinese energy corporation. During the alleged negotiations with officials with the China Energy Fund Committee, the deal asked for "10 held by H for the big guy?"

In October, most mainstream media companies labeled the "smoking gun" allegations against Hunter Biden as a "disinformation campaign," despite many of the same details being reported by the New York Times in 2018.

Included was NBC News, which wrote in October, "The disinformation campaign appears to have been successful in its goal of generating a smear against the former vice president's son."

The news outlet categorized the accusations against Hunter Biden as a "conspiracy theory" and "fantastical rumors, which NBC News is declining to repeat verbatim." NBC News compared the Hunter Biden emails to "'pizzagate,' a viral disinformation campaign that predates QAnon but also falsely alleges a vast conspiracy of child abuse."