Business dealings of Biden family could be problematic for him

WASHINGTON — When Joe Biden's brother and son wanted to buy a hedge fund company two years ago, they turned for financing to a law firm that had lobbied the Delaware senator's office on an important piece of business in Congress -- and in fact had recently benefited from his vote. The firm promised James and Hunter Biden that it would invest $2 million, and quickly delivered half of it.

That deal eventually fell through and the money was returned. But it highlighted the close ties that Joe Biden and his family have developed with SimmonsCooper, an Illinois law firm that specializes in asbestos litigation -- a multimillion-dollar line of business that was under threat in Congress.

In addition to providing financing for the hedge fund deal, SimmonsCooper picked the law firm of another of Biden's sons, Beau, to work with it on dozens of asbestos cases in Delaware. "It was only natural that we worked with my friend Beau Biden and his firm," said Jeffrey Cooper, former managing partner of SimmonsCooper.

And SimmonsCooper employees have donated about $200,000 to Biden's campaign efforts since 2001, making the firm his No. 1 donor. All told, SimmonsCooper employees provided much more money to Biden than to any other senator during that period, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics.

His family's financial dealings could be troublesome for Biden, who tonight becomes part of a Democratic presidential ticket that has vowed to reform Washington's traditional money culture.

A spokesman for the senator said that all the SimmonsCooper business deals with his sons and brother were above board, involved no special favors and were arranged without the senator's knowledge. Biden, one of the Senate's leading advocates for trial lawyers and the right of victims to sue in court, has long taken a skeptical view of efforts by the asbestos and insurance industries to get asbestos-related lawsuits out of the courts by creating a trust fund to handle billions of dollars in claims. SimmonsCooper has spent $6.4 million since 2002 lobbying Washington, according to records on CQ MoneyLine, much of it directed at opposing the trust fund bill.

David Wade, Biden's spokesman, noted that the $1-million investment in the hedge fund venture was made after Senate action on asbestos reform had been completed in 2006 and that the Bidens fully repaid the law firm the money. Biden's opposition to the asbestos bill "was well established" long before his sons became involved with the asbestos litigation firm, Wade said.