Hunter Biden hit with 9 tax-related charges in special counsel probe

Publish date: 2024-07-21

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Hunter Biden was indicted Thursday on nine charges — including three felonies — in part for allegedly dodging more than $1 million in taxes while living a hard-partying, “extravagant” life over a four-year period.

The three felonies leveled against President Biden’s 53-year-old son — who faces a maximum penalty of 17 years in prison if convicted on all counts — include one count tax evasion for his 2018 personal taxes and two counts of filing a false return for his 2018 personal taxes and on a corporate income tax return for his company Owasco, PC. 

He has also been hit with six misdemeanor counts of failure to pay and failure to file charges for the 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 tax years. 

“The Defendant engaged in a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019,” special counsel David Weiss wrote in the 56-page indictment out of the Central District of California.

“In furtherance of that scheme,” Weiss noted that Hunter “subverted the payroll and tax withholding process of his own company, Owasco, PC by withdrawing millions from Owasco, PC” and “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills.” 

Biden spent his cash 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,” according to the indictment. 

Weiss highlighted that Biden used a business line of credit to make more than $27,000 in payments to a porn site, “which in total accounted for one fifth of all of the business line of credit expenditures.”

The porn payments were among nearly $189,000 the first son spent on “adult entertainment” while not paying taxes, according to Weiss, including a $10,000 payment for a sex club membership that he expensed as a “golf club membership.” 

Hunter Biden is reportedly facing new charges from special counsel David Weiss. AP

He also claimed a false deduction for “consulting” that was “in truth and in fact” payments to “various women who were either romantically involved with or otherwise performing personal services” for Biden.

More than $680,000 went to these women while Biden wasn’t paying Uncle Sam.

“When he did finally file his 2018 returns, [Hunter] included false business deductions in order to evade assessment of taxes to reduce the substantial tax liabilities he faced as of February 2020,” the special counsel added. 

Judge Mark Scarsi, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, has been assigned the new case.

The scandal-scarred first son is already facing three felony counts related to false statements he made when purchasing a firearm. Weiss brought those charges against him in September, after a June plea deal fell apart in a Delaware courtroom. 

Biden has pleaded not guilty to all charges. He faces a maximum of 25 years in prison in the gun case.

Weiss convened the Los Angeles grand jury that brought Thursday’s indictment against Hunter last month, according to CNN. The special counsel also issued a subpoena to first brother James Biden as part of his five-year investigation into Hunter.

In the failed deal, Hunter Biden agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor charges of failing to pay at least $100,000 on more than $1.5 million in earned income in both 2017 and 2018. 

Weiss convened a grand jury in Los Angeles last month and issued a subpoena to first brother James Biden as part of his five-year investigation into Hunter Biden. AP

At the time, Weiss declined to bring charges against Biden for alleged tax crimes committed in Southern California and Washington, DC, after US attorneys in both districts refused to partner in his investigation.  

IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley claims Biden avoided paying taxes on $8.3 million in income he received between 2014 and 2019, a period during which he sat on the board of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings and the Chinese private equity fund BHR Partners.

During the plea hearing, prosecutors noted to US District Judge Maryellen Noreika that the agreement did not preclude bringing charges against Biden later for other alleged crimes — such as possible violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. 

A New York Post cover from September 15, 2023. csuarez

The alleged FARA violations stem from Biden failing to register as a foreign agent while engaged in lucrative dealings in countries such as China and Ukraine that allegedly involved his father and uncle. 

The FBI, tasked with investigating aspects of Weiss’ probe related to money laundering and FARA violations, didn’t anticipate charges being brought against Hunter related to those matters, according to CNN.

Federal investigators also raised the possibility of charging Biden for crimes related to sex trafficking over his communications with numerous alleged prostitutes in which he appeared to be coordinating their travel across state lines – a possible violation of the federal Mann Act’s prohibition on interstate prostitution – according to IRS whistleblower documents. 

Hunter Biden leaves the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building in Wilmington, Delaware in July. AFP via Getty Images

The new criminal case against Biden comes as House Republicans prepare to formally authorize the impeachment inquiry into President Biden for alleged corruption. 

The resolution, introduced by Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) on Wednesday, directs the House Judiciary, Oversight and Ways and Means committees to determine “whether sufficient grounds exist” to impeach the president for his alleged role in Hunter and James Biden’s foreign business ventures during his vice presidency.

Two sources told The Post that the House tentatively plans to vote Wednesday on the legislation.

The Post has reached out to Hunter Biden’s lawyers for comment on the new charges.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer lauded the IRS whistleblowers, Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, after the new indictment dropped, arguing that the charges wouldn’t have been filed if the agents had not come forward with allegations of a Justice Department cover-up in the probe. 

“The Department of Justice got caught in its attempt to give Hunter Biden an unprecedented sweetheart plea deal and today’s charges filed against Hunter Biden are the result of Mr. Shapley and Mr. Ziegler’s efforts to ensure all Americans are treated equally under the law,” Comer said in a statement. “Every American should applaud these men for their courage to expose the truth.

“Hunter Biden’s corporate entities implicated by today’s indictments funneled foreign cash that landed in Joe Biden’s bank account. Unless US Attorney Weiss investigates everyone involved in the Bidens’ fraud schemes and influence peddling, it will be clear President Biden’s DOJ is protecting Hunter Biden and the big guy,” the Kentucky Republican added.

‘Everything but his taxes’

Instead of paying his taxes between 2016 and 2019, the indictment found that embattled first son spent his money on:

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