Christopher Tigani, a former Delaware political donor who was arrested for campaign finance violations, revealed he helped the FBI investigate whether Joe Biden or his staff knew about his illegal activities by wearing a wire.
Tigani, who pleaded guilty in 2011 to making illegal campaign contributions to and committing tax violations during Biden’s unsuccessful 2008 presidential campaign, told Politico in an interview published Tuesday that the FBI arranged for him to wear a listening device and record conversations with top officials, including Biden’s finance chief Dennis Toner.
Tigani was a bundler who got in trouble because he coordinated campaign contributions from employees at his company and then later reimbursed them for the funds using the company’s money, a practice that was done to skirt contribution limits. He claimed not to know the practice was a criminal act while he was bundling.
Despite the investigations, only Tigani was found to have been guilty of any wrongdoing. He decided to speak about the wire because, according to Politico, “he felt he was left out to dry by the Bidens.” The former fundraiser called the Biden family “fair weather friends.”
Politico obtained a 2012 letter from the U.S. Attorney’s Office that said that Tigani made recordings of six people on 17 occasions. Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign has affirmed that the former vice president was not aware of Tigani’s crimes.
“This matter was thoroughly investigated almost a decade ago by the Department of Justice, and there was no finding, or even allegation, of improper behavior by the 2008 campaign,” said Biden spokesman Michael Gwin.
According to Tigani, following a 2007 Democratic primary debate, he was approached by Biden and his sons Hunter and Beau, who asked him to increase his fundraising efforts. Tigani said Toner then took over and asked, “How many people do you have who you can trust?”
“All of them,” Tigani said he told Toner.
He also claimed that during a phone call while working with the FBI, Toner appeared to know he was being recorded and quipped, “I don’t even know who else is listening.”
“The agents believed that Toner and Biden knew exactly what was going on with respect to bundling,” Tigani said but added that the FBI couldn’t prove wrongdoing because the duo was “too smart.”
Toner has denied all accusations of foreknowledge regarding Tigani’s crimes.
Tigani had a long history of involvement in Delaware politics, particularly Democratic politics, prior to his crimes. He was a beer distributor with the family business, NKS Distributors, which gave heavily, including to Beau Biden’s campaign for state attorney general in 2005.
After agreeing to wear a wire, Tigani taped conversations, both on the phone and in person, with a myriad of officials ranging from lobbyists to figures with important ties to Biden. He said that while he attempted to record Biden, he never got the opportunity. He said that his FBI handlers looked for opportunities in which he would plausibly bump into Biden instead of outright setting up a meeting with him.
“I did try to go to places where he was,” Tigani said. “I know that he had a couple of scheduled events when he was going to be in Delaware where we were going to try to make a chance meeting.”
All in all, Tigani made some $72,000 in illegal donations to Biden’s failed 2008 campaign. He pleaded guilty to multiple charges and was sentenced to two years in prison but served a year and a half.
