On 11/2/15, a top executive of the Ukrainian energy firm that paid Hunter Biden more than $3.3 million instructed him via email to "proceed immediately" with enlisting "high-ranking US officials" to visit Ukraine and persuade "the highest level of decision makers here in Ukraine" to "close down" all "cases/pursuits against" the company's owner. Hunter replied, "Looking forward to getting started on this." The next month, Joe Biden visited Ukraine and told its president and its prime minister that if the nation's chief prosecutor was not fired, he would withhold $1 billion in U.S. aid from Ukraine. Court records and first-hand sworn testimony from the prosecutor show that he was actively investigating the company's owner at that time. After the prosecutor was fired, the new chief prosecutor, who Biden publicly described as "solid," dropped all criminal charges against the owner.