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News ID: 116321
Publish Date : 20 June 2023 - 21:45

Biden’s Son Agrees to Please Guilty to Tax Crimes

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- U.S. President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden has agreed to plead guilty to two charges of willfully failing to pay income taxes and to enter into an agreement that could enable him to avoid a conviction on a gun-related charge, according to a court filing on Tuesday.
The federal charges against Hunter Biden resulted from an investigation by David Weiss, the U.S. attorney in the Democratic president’s home state of Delaware, who was appointed by Republican then-President Donald Trump.
Hunter Biden, 53, for years has been the focus of unrelenting attacks by Trump and his Republican allies, who have accused him of wrongdoing relating to Ukraine and China, among other matters. The president’s son has worked as a lobbyist, lawyer, investment banker and artist, and has publicly detailed his struggles with substance abuse.
According to court filings, Hunter Biden received taxable income in excess of $1.5 million in 2017 and 2018, but he did not pay income tax those years despite owing in excess of $100,000. The two counts are misdemeanors.
His attorney, Christopher Clark, said the government would file a firearm charge against his client that would be subject to a pretrial diversion agreement, an alternative to prosecution that is sometimes used to allow defendants to avoid prison time or a criminal conviction.
Hunter Biden described in a 2021 memoir dealing with substance abuse issues in his life, including crack cocaine use and alcoholism. He was discharged from the U.S. Navy Reserve in 2014 after testing positive for cocaine, sources said at the time.
President Biden has long expressed support and pride in his son for overcoming his addiction.
The Weiss inquiry initially examined potential violations of tax and money laundering laws in foreign business dealings, principally in China, sources told Reuters. The investigation headed by Weiss began as early as 2018, according to U.S. media reports.
A senior Republican congressman, James Comer, in 2022 accused the U.S. Treasury Department of withholding financial “suspicious activity reports” to shield Hunter Biden’s business dealings.