Biden Son-in-Law’s Work for Medical Investment Firm While Advising POTUS on Covid Sparks Concerns
For much of 2020, Joe Biden was dogged by claims that he intervened to freeze a billion dollar US loan to Ukraine over a Kiev prosecutor’s probe into possible money laundering activities of a Ukrainian gas company his son Hunter Biden was working for. Now, investigators say his ties with his son-in-law may be another scandal waiting to blow up.
Biden son-in-law Howard Krein’s role as chief medical officer for StartUp Health, a venture capital firm heavily involved in backing companies working on America’s Covid-19 response, could be accompanied by "questions of ethics," not to mention possible legal repercussions, ABC News reports.
It was previously reported that Krein, husband of Biden's daughter Ashley Biden, was heavily involved in helping to formulate the Democratic candidate’s planned pandemic response during the presidential campaign, with US media mentioning that he took part in “daily calls to brief Biden” on coronavirus policy.
Medical Startups ‘Need All the Help They Can Get’
Now that Biden has taken office, companies have been flocking to StartUp Health, seeking to use the venture capital firm’s potential influence with the Biden administration to make money.
Speaking to ABC News, boutique medical tech firm Yosi Health CEO Hari Prasad said he had reached out to StartUp Health in late 2020 and asked the venture capital company to introduce its mobile patient intake and registration system service to government officials.
“Our goal with StartUp Health is to leverage their relationships and work with state and federal agencies,” Prasad explained. “Health care is a very tough place to run a startup…so as a startup you need all the help and support you can get. That’s where StartUp Health plays a critical role. It’s a support system to lean on,” he added.
Leon Eisen, CEO of Oxitone, a company which makes wearable pulse monitors, and which has also partnered with StartUP Health, agreed that Krein’s connections may have helped the company in earnings, while insisting that everything remains on the up-and-up ethics-wise.
“[Krein’s] connections could help StartUp Health to make much better business, and, as a result, all StartUp Health companies – independent of their relationship with Howard – will benefit in general from the relationships of StartUp Health and connections of StartUp Health,” Eisen said.
Help From a Powerful Friend
Krein co-founded the health-based venture capital firm in 2011 along with his brother Steven Krein and tech entrepreneur Unity Stoakes, and has been involved in helping to oversee nearly $2 billion in investments in “a global army of entrepreneurs,” including those now seeking to sign lucrative contracts with the government.
Joe Biden has been an active supporter of StartUp Health for nearly a decade, taking company executives on tours of the Oval Office while serving as President Barack Obama’s vice-president, and regularly appearing at corporate events hosted by the company.
In a keynote speech at the 2018 StartUp Health Festival in San Francisco, Biden called Krein “one of the finest men I’ve ever known in my life,” and said that “when a father-in-law says that you know it means something.” He stressed however that it was the company’s effort to “chang[e] the culture to vastly expand cooperation,” and “not just my incredible admiration for my son-in-law,” that attracted him to the company.
https://sputniknews.com/us/202102091082027460-biden-son-in-laws-work-for-medical-investment-firm-while-advising-potus-on-covid-sparks-concerns/