Missing California mother Heidi Planck’s boss was in business with Hunter Biden in China.
Planck, an accountant for accused fraudster financier Jason Sugarman, disappeared in Los Angeles on October 17.
The vanishing led police to question Sugarman, who is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an alleged $43million fraud.
A SWAT team has raided Planck’s house and police have combed through a landfill for her remains, but her mystery disappearance remains unsolved.
Planck’s ex-husband believes the financier knows more about her disappearance than he has told detectives.
DailyMail.com can now reveal emails from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop which show Sugarman worked on a multi-million-dollar deal with the president’s son and his Chinese business partners in 2015.
![Jason Sugarman](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/12/03/16/51304641-10271857-image-a-17_1638548451992.jpg)
Emails obtained by DailyMail.com show Hunter Biden was working closely with Jason Sugarman (right) the accused ‘fraudster’ boss of missing mom and accountant Heidi Planck
![Heidi Planck, 39, has not been seen since October 17, with the shadowy links between her boss and unsavory characters sparking further alarm about her fate](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/12/03/16/51304645-10271857-image-a-19_1638548456783.jpg)
Heidi Planck, 39, has not been seen since October 17, with the shadowy links between her boss and unsavory characters sparking further alarm about her fate
![Hunter's long-time friend and business partner in his controversial deals with the Chinese, Devon Archer, was convicted for his involvement in the $43million grift for which Sugarman is currently under investigation](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/12/03/16/51304121-10271857-image-m-21_1638548485494.jpg)
Hunter’s long-time friend and business partner in his controversial deals with the Chinese, Devon Archer, was convicted for his involvement in the $43million grift for which Sugarman is currently under investigation
![In a January 2015 email which Archer forwarded to Hunter, he introduced his Burnham partner Jason Sugarman to Hunter's Chinese partner Jonathan Li, arranging a meeting at the Bohai Harvest offices in Beijing](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/12/03/16/51304121-10271857-image-m-23_1638548669340.jpg)
In a January 2015 email which Archer forwarded to Hunter, he introduced his Burnham partner Jason Sugarman to Hunter’s Chinese partner Jonathan Li, arranging a meeting at the Bohai Harvest offices in Beijing
The communications show Sugarman was a director and ‘key shareholder’ of Burnham Financial Group, which pitched a deal to Hunter’s Chinese business partners in 2015 brokered by the president’s son.
Hunter later tried to distance himself from Burnham after some of its executives were charged with a complex fraudulent scheme using Native American bonds – the scheme for which Sugarman is now under investigation by the SEC.
![Planck was last seen on October 17 after leaving her son's football game in the Los Angeles suburb of Downey at half time](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/12/15/15/51133825-10271857-Planck_was_last_seen_on_October_17_after_leaving_her_son_s_footb-m-49_1639582017587.jpg)
Planck was last seen on October 17 after leaving her son’s football game in the Los Angeles suburb of Downey at half time
Planck’s ex-husband, Jim Wayne, has told DailyMail.com he believes Sugarman knows more about the October disappearance of his Los Angeles accountant and bookkeeper than he is letting on.
‘The answer to Heidi’s whereabouts lies with her boss, Jason Sugarman, and his company,’ he said.
‘Heidi knows all of Jason’s and the company’s secrets. She knows where the bones are buried.’
Planck worked as a financial controller, overseeing all employees involved in the accounting process at Camden Capital Partners LLC, where Sugarman is a managing partner.
She has not been seen since October 17, when she left abruptly in the middle of her 11-year-old son Bond’s football game. The intrigue around her boss has sparked further alarm about her fate.
Last month investigators began combing a landfill north of Los Angeles, where the refuse is taken from an apartment building where she was last seen.
Sugarman, a minority owner of the MLS team Los Angeles FC, was recorded on her porch camera delivering muffins two days after her disappearance, and after Wayne had told him she was missing.
The SEC charged Sugarman in 2019 with hatching a fraudulent scheme that swindled $43million out of pension funds between 2014 and 2016, and left a Native American tribe $60million in debt.
![A 2014 slide deck presentation prepared for the Chinese investors lists Sugarman as 'a director at Burnham Financial Group' and Archer as 'managing partner and director](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/12/03/17/51302561-10271857-image-a-53_1638551589087.jpg)
A 2014 slide deck presentation prepared for the Chinese investors lists Sugarman as ‘a director at Burnham Financial Group’ and Archer as ‘managing partner and director
![After noting that 'optics matter to win banking business', the deck adds: 'H. Biden broker dealer tuck-under enhances relationships'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/12/03/16/51302559-10271857-image-a-24_1638548696338.jpg)
After noting that ‘optics matter to win banking business’, the deck adds: ‘H. Biden broker dealer tuck-under enhances relationships’
Hunter’s long-time friend and business partner in his controversial deals with the Chinese, Devon Archer, was convicted for his involvement in the same grift in 2018.
Ever since, Hunter and his lawyers have sought to play down his involvement, claiming Archer and others put his name on brochures for the scheme without his knowledge and that he cut ties as soon as he found out what was going on.
But emails obtained by DailyMail.com show Hunter was working closely with both Archer and Sugarman at the time on a major deal between their company Burnham and Hunter’s Chinese business partners’ fund Bohai Harvest (BHR).
In a January 2015 email which Archer forwarded to Hunter, he introduced his Burnham partner Sugarman to Hunter’s Chinese partner Jonathan Li, arranging a meeting at the BHR offices in Beijing.
‘You are both close friends of mine and partners in my core holdings and initiatives moving forward,’ Archer wrote.
‘Jonathan is the CEO of BHR and the fearless leader of the team. Jason is a Board Director of Burnham and the other key shareholder along with me in the business.’
![The president's son's pivotal role in the deal was laid out in an email from one of his business partners, James Bulger, in October 2014](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/12/03/17/51304077-10271857-image-m-54_1638551667970.jpg)
The president’s son’s pivotal role in the deal was laid out in an email from one of his business partners, James Bulger, in October 2014
![Bulger emphasizes the 'high importance' of Hunter's commitment](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/12/03/17/51304071-10271857-image-a-55_1638551703589.jpg)
Bulger emphasizes the ‘high importance’ of Hunter’s commitment
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/12/15/16/51831903-10271857-image-m-57_1639586795253.jpg)
In March 2016 Hunter wrote to Zhao confirming the deal Bohai-Burnham went through. ‘I am so glad to hear that we have concluded our joint venture between Harvest and Burnham,’ Hunter wrote
Hunter met with Sugarman and other Burnham executives in April that year, and later hosted Bohai’s management in his DC office to discuss their deal.
The president’s son’s pivotal role in the deal was laid out in an email from one of his business partners, James Bulger, in October 2014.
‘Henry [Zhao, a Bohai executive] we believe, is still interested in doing the JV [joint venture] deal if a fair evaluation of Burnham can be agreed to and if YOU as a deal maker are inside Burnham,’ Bulger wrote to Hunter.
He asked Hunter to tell Zhao that ‘you look forward to meeting him’ in the US are ‘very keen on getting the Harvest/Burnham platform set up.’
![James Wayne and Heidi Planck were married in 2008 and divorced four years later after the birth of their son, who just turned 11. 'The answer to Heidi's whereabouts lies with her boss, Jason Sugarman, and his company,' he said](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/12/15/15/50278875-10271857-James_Wayne_and_Heidi_Planck_were_married_in_2008_and_divorced_f-m-52_1639582341226.jpg)
James Wayne and Heidi Planck were married in 2008 and divorced four years later after the birth of their son, who just turned 11. ‘The answer to Heidi’s whereabouts lies with her boss, Jason Sugarman, and his company,’ he said
‘Henry holds you in very high regard Hunter so you bringing up these two important points and expressing your commitment to this JV is of high importance to us all,’ Bulger added.
An email Hunter wrote two months later suggests his role in the deal continued apace.
‘Henry, it was great to catch up with you and discuss the Burnham business in detail last week in New York,’ Hunter wrote. ‘I hope having Jason Sugarman and Andrew Godfrey explain the business and how it will all work together was informative.
‘I know Devon and Jim will be in Beijing in early January that might be a good time for another meeting to discuss this matter and determine a path forward.’
A 2014 slide deck presentation prepared for the Chinese investors lists Sugarman as ‘a director at Burnham Financial Group’ and Archer as ‘managing partner and director’.
After noting that ‘optics matter to win banking business’, the deck alluded to Hunter’s role in the deal in one bullet-point: ‘H. Biden broker dealer tuck-under enhances relationships’.
Archer further explained Hunter’s proposed involvement in a July 2014 email, saying that the deal would involve Burnham buying Hunter’s financial firm Rosemont Seneca.
‘Basic idea is fund an acquisition of $6 billion AUM PPLI business through a consolidated Burnham which would buy our BD as a subsequent, what we’re calling, ‘strategic H Biden tuck in.’ Archer wrote.
‘Looks like a great plan,’ Hunter replied.
According to Schwerin’s emails to Hunter, the president’s son reported earnings of $166,666 from Burnham on his 2015 tax return.
![She was then seen on surveillance video walking her dog, Seven, near the Hope + Flower apartment complex - 30 miles away from her home in Downey](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/12/15/15/51133823-10271857-She_was_then_seen_on_surveillance_video_walking_her_dog_Seven_ne-a-50_1639582178141.jpg)
She was then seen on surveillance video walking her dog, Seven, near the Hope + Flower apartment complex – 30 miles away from her home in Downey
![The mother-of-one left her home on October 17 in the Reynier Village district, and was last seen at her son's football game in Downey. Security footage showed her walking her dog near a luxury apartment building in downtown LA less than an hour after she left the game. Her dog was later found alone on the 28th floor of the building. The alarm was raised when Planck failed to pick her son up from school in Westwood, on October 20](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/12/01/01/50562333-10257093-The_mother_of_one_left_her_home_on_October_17_Reynier_Village_di-a-200_1638321503174.jpg)
The mother-of-one left her home on October 17 in the Reynier Village district, and was last seen at her son’s football game in Downey. Security footage showed her walking her dog near a luxury apartment building in downtown LA less than an hour after she left the game. Her dog was later found alone on the 28th floor of the building. The alarm was raised when Planck failed to pick her son up from school in Westwood, on October 20
![Home surveillance footage shows Planck leaving her home in the Reynier Village district of Los Angeles, with her dog Seven on October 17. She climbs into the Range Rover and drives off](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/12/03/16/49929215-10271857-Home_surveillance_footage_shows_Planck_leaving_her_home_in_the_R-a-32_1638548909695.jpg)
Home surveillance footage shows Planck leaving her home in the Reynier Village district of Los Angeles, with her dog Seven on October 17. She climbs into the Range Rover and drives off
![California police are searching Chiquita Canyon Landfill in the city of Castaic for the possible remains of Planck](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/11/30/06/51133695-10257093-image-m-62_1638255134375.jpg)
California police are searching Chiquita Canyon Landfill in the city of Castaic for the possible remains of Planck
In March 2016 Hunter wrote to Zhao confirming the deal Bohai-Burnham went through.
‘I am so glad to hear that we have concluded our joint venture between Harvest and Burnham,’ Hunter wrote.
‘This is an exciting milestone and I look forward to helping building a cross border institution that helps investors in our respective countries across the globe.
‘I have no doubt that this working relationship will continue as we go forward.’
Hunter’s lawyer, George Mesires, said his client had nothing to do with his business partners’ separate Native American bond scheme that was being run at the same time as the negotiations with the Chinese investors.
‘The defendants invoked and used Hunter’s name – without his knowledge – to lend their business venture more credibility,’ Mesires said.
‘As soon as Hunter learned of the illegal conduct, and that his name was being used in this unauthorized and inappropriate manner, Hunter took immediate steps to ensure that his business interests would not be associated with the Burnham Group or with any of the defendants.’
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk