US President’s son Hunter Biden has surprisingly pleaded guilty in a case involving various tax offenses. The 54-year-old announced this in court in Los Angeles, thus averting a trial in the case at the last minute. The son of US President Joe Biden justified the move by saying that after long escapades he wanted to spare his family another public trial with painful insights into his life of alcoholism and drug addiction.
Although Hunter Biden is avoiding a trial in the case, he still has to worry about what punishment he will receive. The sentencing is scheduled for December 16. The US Department of Justice announced that he faces up to 17 years in prison. However, the actual sentences for federal crimes are usually lower than the maximum penalties.
Turbulent court session
Hunter Biden had previously pleaded not guilty in the case. His about-face came just before the start of the trial. The trial was supposed to begin on Thursday with the selection of the jury. But that will no longer happen.
The court session in Los Angeles was turbulent. Hunter Biden initially surprised everyone with a different legal move and proposed an unusual agreement with the judiciary: a deal in which the defendant does not plead guilty in the classic sense, but at the same time acknowledges that the evidence in the case would probably lead to a guilty verdict. The prosecution rejected this, however. This was followed, also surprisingly, by Biden’s regular guilty plea – but without any deal with the prosecution and thus without a prior agreement to reduce the sentence.
What is the case about?
In December, Hunter Biden was charged with several tax offenses. The 54-year-old is accused of failing to pay federal taxes properly for several years. He is accused of spending millions on an extravagant lifestyle instead of paying his taxes. Hunter Biden only paid his taxes retroactively.
Specifically, it concerns the years 2016 to mid-October 2020 – shortly before Joe Biden was elected president. During this time, Hunter Biden recorded more than seven million US dollars in income, the indictment said. However, he decided at the time not to pay taxes, but to spend the money on other things: “on drugs, hostesses and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing and other things of a personal nature, in short: on everything except his taxes.”
The indictment listed exactly what Hunter Biden earned during those years – including through shady foreign business deals and opaque payments from a “personal friend”. Above all, however, the meticulous listing of delicate expenses – for example for sex clubs, strippers and “adult entertainment” – caused a great stir. Hunter Biden would have been very keen not to reveal such details in public in a trial.
Guilty verdict in another case
In another criminal case, Hunter Biden was convicted of illegal possession of weapons in June. In that case, he was accused of making false statements when purchasing a weapon in October 2018 and of concealing his drug addiction at the time. He denied the charges. The sentence in the weapons case is to be announced on November 13.
The trial in Delaware brought a lot of delicate private matters to the public. Among other things, Hunter Biden’s adult daughter Naomi had to provide information about her father’s drug addiction – as did his brother’s widow, with whom he had an affair after his death.
In a written statement distributed by several US media outlets, Hunter Biden addressed the first trial in detail. “I went to trial in Delaware with no idea of the torment my family would suffer, and I will not put them through that again,” he said. “I will not put my family through more pain, more invasion of privacy, and more unnecessary embarrassment. After everything I have put them through over the years, I can spare them that, and that is why I have decided to plead guilty.”
Hunter Biden’s lawyer Abbe Lowell said in Los Angeles that his client made the decision “to protect those he loves from unnecessary hurt and cruel humiliation” and to prevent another “show trial.” “It was a courageous and loving decision on his part.”
Political burden for the father
The president’s son has been making negative headlines for years: alcohol addiction, drug addiction, questionable business dealings, legal disputes with an ex-stripper over child support for an illegitimate child. The latest legal problems are the climax of a long series of escapades that have also politically burdened his father Joe Biden. According to the media, Hunter Biden is the first child of a sitting US president to be found guilty in a federal criminal case.
Republicans have long used the son’s stumble to launch political attacks against the US president, who has since withdrawn from the campaign for a second term for other reasons. Joe Biden has repeatedly stated publicly that he loves his son and is proud of him. But the 81-year-old has also made it clear that he will not pardon him or reduce his sentence. The White House spokeswoman stressed on Thursday that this still applies.
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