Federal agents reportedly obtained a FISA warrant against Hunter Biden's Chinese business partner

Federal investigators reportedly obtained a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant against one of Hunter Biden's Chinese business partners in 2018, the Daily Caller reported Wednesday.

What are the details?

The revelation came from a Feb. 8, 2018, court filing obtained by the news outlet in which prosecutors provided a notice of intent to Chi Ping Patrick Ho, also known simply as Patrick Ho, that they were prepared to use information obtained from the FISA warrant surveillance against him in court. Here's what the notice of intent said:

The United States, through its attorney Geoffrey S. Berman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, hereby provides notice to defendant Chi Ping Patrick Ho, a/k/a Patrick C. P. Ho," a/k/a "He Zhiping," and to the Court, that pursuant to Title 50, United States Code, Sections 1806(c) and 1825(d), the United States intends to offer into evidence, or otherwise use or disclose in any proceedings in the above-captioned matter, information obtained or derived from electronic surveillance and physical search conducted pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA), as amended, 50 U.S.C. §§ 1801-1812 and 1821- 1829.

Before being arrested in November 2017 for money laundering and violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Ho served as a top executive for CEFC China Energy Co. and at the time was allegedly in the process of brokering a partnership between the multibillion dollar company and a business group involving Hunter Biden and his uncle, James Biden.

According to the Department of Justice, Ho would be convicted for his role in a "multi-year, multimillion-dollar scheme to bribe top officials of Chad and Uganda in exchange for business advantages" and sentenced to serve three years in prison.

What else?

But what may be of more interest to U.S. readers is that during the same time that Ho was standing trial in the Southern District of New York, CEFC affiliates had wired $5 million to Biden's law firm, according to a Senate report released last month.

The Senate report also noted that — as described in a 2019 report from the New Yorker — not only did Biden maintain a business partnership with CEFC, but he also agreed to represent Ho in court at the request of CEFC's founder and former chairman, Ye Jianming. Then in March 2018, a shell company affiliated with CEFC called Hudson West III wired $1 million to Biden's law firm, Owasco, for "Dr Patrick Ho Chi Ping Representation."

Biden's relationship with Ye has also raised eyebrows due to Ye's connection with the People's Liberation Army, China's military. Not to mention the fact in February 2018, Ye was detained by Chinese authorities as a part of a supposed anti-corruption probe.

According to the New Yorker report, Biden said he didn't consider Ye to be a "shady character at all" and characterized the situation as "bad luck."

Anything else?

Despite his insistence to the contrary, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has come under intense scrutiny over his alleged involvement in his son's overseas business dealings, including the botched partnership with CEFC.

Email exchanges first reported by the New York Post and later verified by former Hunter Biden associate Tony Bobulinski, appear to show that Joe Biden would receive kickbacks from the deal.

"10 held by H for the big guy?" one email said. Bobulinski would later claim that "the big guy" was in fact Joe Biden.

Bobulinski has also alleged that he met face-to-face with Joe Biden about the partnership in May 2017 in Los Angeles and that the former vice president was well aware of the details.