Hunter Biden was charged Thursday with nine federal tax crimes, including three felony offenses, according to court documents filed Thursday in a federal court in Los Angeles.
The charges, which include evasion of taxes, failure to file/pay taxes, and false/fraudulent tax return, were brought by Special Counsel David Weiss in the Central District of California. The case was assigned to Judge Mark Scarsi, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump. Hunter Biden faces a maximum penalty of 17 years in prison, according to Weiss’ office. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
The 56-page court filing details Hunter’s “four-year scheme” to avoid paying over $1 million in tax obligations and to file false returns.
The indictment says that Hunter Biden “individually received more than $7 million in total gross income” between 2016 and mid-October 2020, but “willfully 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”
“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,” Weiss said in the indictment.
“In furtherance of that scheme,” according to Weiss, 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.”
“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,” Weiss said.
The indictment includes a summary of expenditures Hunter made instead of paying his taxes.
Indictment includes summary of the expenditures Hunter Biden made instead of paying his taxes, per prosectors
– $683,212 to "Various Women" from 2016-2019
– $397,530 on "Clothing and Accessories"
– $188,960 on "Adult Entertainment" pic.twitter.com/ZOSzxgmIAw— Will Steakin (@wsteaks) December 8, 2023
“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.
Owasco is the same business that made monthly direct payments to Joe Biden in late 2018. Although Joe Biden claimed his family never received any money from China, the law firm received millions of dollars from Communist Chinese-linked companies and other foreign nationals and companies, bank records show.
Hunter Biden was indicted in September on three felony counts related to lying about his drug use while purchasing a firearm. Those charges, also brought by Weiss, reportedly carry up to 25 years in prison. Hunter pleaded not guilty on October 3, to those charges.
The gun charges came one month after U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland granted Weiss full authority to investigate Biden as special counsel.
After his years long investigation into Hunter Biden’s shady business dealings, Weiss offered Hunter Biden a sweetheart plea deal in June. The plea agreement unraveled in a Delaware courtroom in July when Judge Maryellen Noreika said she had “concerns” about some aspects of the case.
Hunter Biden attorney Abbe Lowell said in a statement that if Hunter’s “last name was anything other than Biden, the charges in Delaware, and now California, would not have been brought.”
“I wrote U.S. Attorney Weiss days ago seeking a customary meeting to discuss this investigation. The response was media leaks today that these charges were being filed,” said Lowell.
“All these issues will now be addressed in various courts, the first to occur this Monday when the prosecutors knew our motions to dismiss their first set of questionable charges would be filed,” he added.
The indictment does not appear to reference Joe Biden or his role as president or vice president.
Weiss has thus far steered clear of charging Hunter for anything related to the Biden family’s influence-peddling operation that could implicate Joe Biden, including bribery, money laundering and registered foreign agent (FARA) violations.
Federal investigators have also looked into charging Biden for sex trafficking crimes due to his communications with numerous alleged prostitutes which indicate he coordinated their travel across state lines, according to IRS whistleblower documents.
Last month, House Republicans subpoenaed Hunter Biden to appear for a closed-door deposition before the House Oversight Committee on December 13, 2023.
Biden’s legal team has said that he’s open to testifying publicly before the Committee next week, but GOP leaders say Hunter has no “choice” in the matter.
In a letter to Lowell on Wednesday, House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) threatened to hold Biden in contempt of Congress if he does not appear for the private deposition.
“The first sweetheart deal came after whistleblowers came forward,” said a source familiar with the House GOP investigation told NBC News. “Now Weiss files charges on [the] eve of Hunter Biden testimony and after the whistleblowers testified again. No such thing as a coincidence in Washington.”
Update:
Statement from IRS whistleblowers Joseph Ziegler and Gary Shapley:
“Today’s indictment is a complete vindication of our thorough investigation, and underscores the wide agreement by investigators and prosecutors that the evidence supported charges against Hunter Biden.”