Frormer Vice President Joe Biden is not implicated in this suit or in other allegations made against his relatives. | Ethan Miller/Getty Images 2020 elections Suit: Biden brother invoked political clout to further fraud scheme It is the latest allegation that the former VP’s relatives seek to profit from his name.

A younger brother of Joe Biden invoked his political clout as part of a fraudulent scheme to bankrupt two medical firms and steal their business model, according to a lawsuit filed by the firms in federal court in Tennessee.

The allegations further a decades-long pattern, detailed in a POLITICO investigation published Friday, in which relatives of Joe Biden have attempted or appeared to benefit from the former vice president’s name and political connections.


Former White House ethics czar Richard Painter told POLITICO that the former vice president should pledge that he will ask his relatives to refrain from business activities that present potential conflicts of interest. Biden, who is not implicated in this suit or in other allegations made against his relatives, has not done so. Neither the Biden campaign nor a lawyer for his brother James Biden and his associates immediately responded to a request for comment for this story.

The amended complaint, filed in July, was first reported by the Knoxville News Sentinel.

According to the complaint, the plaintiffs, Diverse Medical Management and Azzam Medical Services, developed a model of medical care in recent years that met the needs of rural residents “seeking treatment for opioid addiction, mental health issues, veterans’ issues, and sexual trauma.”

The companies allege that, beginning in December 2017, James Biden and his associates offered to partner with them, promising them millions of dollars in investment funds they never intended to provide. Instead, the firms contend, Biden and his associates sought to extract sensitive business information from them while driving them into bankruptcy, so that the defendants could seize control of the firms for themselves.

To win the confidence of the companies, according to the complaint, “Biden promised the Plaintiffs that their Intensive Outpatient Model would play an integral role in healthcare policy at the highest levels of the United States government.”

Initially, “Plaintiffs were thrilled to have the full attention of investors as respected and sophisticated as Biden” and his associates, according to the complaint.

But relations grew strained when promised capital did not arrive and the firms took on new obligations at the urging of the defendants, according to the complaint.

At one point, the president of Diverse Medical Management, Michael Frey, told Biden the company “faced potential problems with Medicare” if it continued to expand without being able to cover payroll, according to the complaint.

Soon after, an associate of Biden’s, defendant Michael Lewitt, sent the executive a message saying, “Jim told me. Don’t worry every time someone threatens to sue you you’re with us now nobody is gonna touch You,” according to the complaint and an attached exhibit.

“It was Frey’s understanding that Lewitt was implying that [Diverse Medical Management] was ‘protected’ because of Jim Biden’s connections,” according to the complaint.

As they went about their alleged scheme, Biden and his associates sought foreign sources of funding, including meeting with the Qatar Investment Authority in December, according to the complaint.

The plaintiffs allege that, when they began to confront the defendants about the fraud, Lewitt became threatening.

“If you think cage fighting is tough wait until you get in the legal ring with me. You are picking a wrong fight with that [sic] wrong guy,” Biden’s associate Lewitt wrote, according to the complaint and an exhibit. In another email, Lewitt allegedly wrote to the plaintiffs and their lawyer, “You and your clients will have the worst experience of their lives.”