Los Angeles: Months after he was found guilty of illegal possession of a firearm, US President Joe Biden's son Hunter has pleaded guilty to federal tax charges in a surprise move that spares his family an embarrassing criminal trial before the November elections. Hunter Biden was about to stand trial in Los Angeles on charges of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes while spending lavishly on drugs, sex workers and exotic cars.
His decision to plead guilty on all nine counts of misdemeanour and felony charges without the benefits of a deal came hours after the jury selection was supposed to begin on Thursday. The President's son was already facing potential prison time after his June conviction on felony gun charges in a trial that aired unflattering and salacious details about his struggles with cocaine addiction.
Although Joe Biden's decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential election muted the potential political implications of the tax case, the trial was expected to carry a heavy emotional toll for the president in the final months of his five-decade political career. The Republicans have targeted Hunter's foreign business dealings to paint the Biden family as corrupt.
Hunter Biden faces up to 17 years in jail
"Enough is enough," Defence attorney Abbe Lowell told the judge before Hunter Biden entered his plea. "Mr Biden is prepared, because of the public and private interest, to proceed today and finish this." Hunter Biden quickly responded "guilty" as the judge read out each of the nine counts. Earlier, prosecutors opposed Hunter's 'Alford plea' - where he offered to plead guilty but refused to admit wrongdoing.
Judge Mark Scarsi told Hunter he faces up to 17 years in prison and up to $450,000 in penalties. He set a sentencing date for December 16. In a statement after the hearing, Biden said he pleaded guilty to spare his family from having to sit through a trial that would have aired messy details from a period of his life where he was suffering from drug addiction.
Hunter Biden was accompanied by his wife Melissa Cohen Biden and was flanked by Secret Service agents. Initially, he pleaded not guilty to the charges related to his 2016 through 2019 taxes and his attorneys had indicated they would argue he didn't act "willfully", or with the intention to break the law, in part because of his well-documented struggles with alcohol and drug addiction.
"For all I have put them through over the years, I can spare them this," he said. He added that he had paid back his taxes. Lowell told reporters afterward that Biden might appeal his sentence. The guilty plea heads off a weeks-long trial that would have taken place at the height of the election campaign.
What are the charges against Hunter?
Hunter Biden, who has been open about his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction, is accused of failing to pay taxes from 2016 to 2019 while spending huge sums "on drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and other items of a personal nature,” according to an indictment.
The trial could also have shed light on his work with Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma and other business dealings while his father was vice president. The indictment says Hunter Biden "earned handsomely" while serving on the boards of Burisma and a Chinese private equity fund.
In June, Hunter was convicted of all three felony charges related to the purchase and illegal possession of a firearm in 2018 when prosecutors argued that he lied about not illegally using or addicted to drugs. Hunter Biden was found guilty of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application form that he was not addicted to drugs and illegally possessing the firearm for 11 days.
The President's son faced up to 25 years in prison when he is sentenced by Judge Maryellen Noreika, though first-time offenders do not get anywhere near the maximum, and it's unclear whether she would give him time behind bars. Nevertheless, Hunter Biden became the first child of a sitting US president to be convicted of a crime.
(with inputs from agencies)
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