Federal Prosecutors Hit Hunter Biden with New Criminal Charges
The Department of Justice indicted Hunter Biden in California on Thursday in relation to taxes he failed to pay from 2016 to 2020, according to a charging document filed by federal prosecutors.
The indictment, which includes three felonies and six misdemeanors, alleges that son of President Joe Biden lived a lavish lifestyle and spent money on everything but paying the Internal Revenue Service millions of dollars he owed.
The charges he is facing include tax evasion and filing a false tax return.
The 56-page indictment filed by special counsel David Weiss alleges Hunter Biden owed a tax bill of $1.2 million that was later paid by a personal friend — his attorney, Kevin Morris.
Weiss argued that during that time, Biden earned millions of dollars from business deals in China, Ukraine and Romania yet falsified tax documents.
The prosecutor said in a statement obtained by The Associated Press that Hunter Biden “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills.”
“Between 2016 and October 15, 2020, the Defendant individually received more than $7 million in total gross income. This included in excess of $1.5 million in 2016, $2.3 million in 2017, $2.1 million in 2018, $1 million in 2019 and approximately $188,000 from January through October 15, 2020,” the indictment said.
“In addition, from January through October 15, 2020, the Defendant received approximately $1.2 million in financial support to fund his extravagant lifestyle,” it said.
For the years in question, the federal government alleged Hunter Biden had opportunities to pay his tax bill but instead chose not to.
“In 2018, the Defendant spent more than $1.8 million on personal expenses rather than pay his individual income taxes for 2017 even though they were due in April 2018,” prosecutors alleged.
Instead of paying the IRS for the year, Biden allegedly withdrew $772,000 in cash from the bank, spent $383,000 “in payments to women” and spent another more than $150,000 on clothing for himself.
The indictment also listed a Venmo transaction to a stripper from Hunter Biden in the amount of $1,500 that he said was for “artwork.”
Prosecutors alleged that in the same year, Hunter Biden spent $11,500 for two nights with an escort and that during the period in which he was delinquent, he spent more than $27,000 on internet pornography.
“Between 2016 and October 15, 2020, the Defendant spent this money on drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and other items of a personal nature, in short, everything but his taxes,” the indictment said.
Some of Hunter Biden’s income was used to help his adult daughter.
Newsweek reported the president’s son faces up to 17 years in prison if he is convicted.
Asked about the indictment, an attorney for Hunter Biden said the charges were political.
“Based on the facts and the law, if Hunter’s last name was anything other than Biden, the charges in Delaware, and now California, would not have been brought,” attorney Abbe Lowell told the AP.
The indictment was filed months after a sweetheart plea deal Hunter Biden’s attorneys made with prosecutors in Delaware fell apart earlier this year.
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