Hunter Biden was charged last month in connection with a long-running Justice Department investigation into his taxes, the second criminal case special counsel David Weiss has brought against President Joe Biden's son.
The charges cover nine counts, including failure to file and pay taxes; evaluation evasion; and false or fraudulent tax returns.
According to the special counsel team, Hunter Biden “engaged in a four-year scheme to fail to pay at least $1.4 million” in taxes he owed from 2016 to 2019. Although Hunter Biden ultimately paid his taxes beginning in 2018, Prosecutors allege it included “false business deductions for the purpose of evading tax assessment to reduce the significant tax liabilities he faced.”
Prosecutors also allege in the 56-page indictment that he “subverted his own company's tax and payroll withholding process” by withdrawing millions of dollars outside of his tax and payroll withholding process.
The president's son “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle instead of paying his taxes,” according to the indictment, which states that “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 personal items, in short, everything except your taxes.”
The indictment also referenced Hunter Biden's 2021 memoir, “Beautiful Things,” in which he detailed some of his personal struggles with addiction and substance abuse. He was paid more than $140,000 related to the book from January to October 15, 2020, according to the indictment.
Hunter Biden's attorney, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement that “under 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 filed.”
Read more about Hunter Biden's charges.
