Jury selection in the Hunter Biden criminal tax trial, stemming from special counsel David Weiss' yearslong investigation into the first son, begins Thursday in California.
Judge Mark Scarsi of the United States District Court for the Central District of California is presiding over the trial.
Biden's tax trial was set to begin in June, but his lawyers asked for it to be delayed until September, and Scarsi granted that request.
HOUSE REPRESENTATIVES REFER HUNTER BIDEN AND JAMES BIDEN TO CRIMINAL PROSECUTION AMID IMPEACHMENT INVESTIGATION
Hunter Biden and his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, depart the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building on June 7, 2024 in Wilmington, Delaware. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Weiss charged Hunter Biden with three felonies and six misdemeanors related to $1.4 million in unpaid taxes that have already been paid. Weiss alleged that it was a “four-year scheme” in which the president's son failed to pay his federal income taxes while simultaneously filing false tax returns.
Biden has pleaded not guilty.
In the indictment, Weiss alleged that Biden “engaged in a four-year scheme to fail to pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019, from on or about January 2017 through on or about October 15, 2020, and to evade tax assessment for tax year 2018 when he filed false returns in on or about February 2020.”
Weiss said that, “in furtherance of that plan,” Biden “subverted the payroll and tax withholding process of his own firm, Owasco, PC, by taking millions” from the firm “outside the payroll and tax withholding process it was designed to perform.”
HUNTER BIDEN'S PROSECUTOR'S TRIAL HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL SEPTEMBER
The special counsel alleged that Biden “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle instead of paying his tax bills” and that in 2018 he “failed to pay his outstanding and overdue taxes for the 2015 tax year.”
Special prosecutor David Weiss charged Hunter Biden with three felonies and six misdemeanors related to $1.4 million in unpaid taxes. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Weiss alleged that Biden “intentionally failed to pay his 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 taxes on time, despite having access to funds to pay some or all of these taxes,” and that he “intentionally failed to file his 2017 and 2018 tax returns on time.”
This is the second time Biden has been tried this year on charges arising from the Weiss investigation.
Biden was found guilty on all counts in Delaware after Weiss charged him with making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm; making a false statement relating to information required to be maintained by a licensed firearms dealer; and one count of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.
Hunter Biden looks on during the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago on Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (Getty Images)
A sentencing date for those charges has not yet been set. With all the charges combined, the total maximum prison sentence for the charges could be up to 25 years. Each charge carries a maximum fine of $250,000 and three years of supervised release.
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President Biden has vowed not to pardon his son.
Jury selection in California is expected to take place on Thursday and Friday. Defense attorneys for Weiss and Biden are expected to present their opening arguments the following Monday.
