Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, has pleaded guilty to tax charges, avoiding a lengthy trial only weeks before the presidential elections.
The guilty plea came on Sept. 5 as his trial in a Los Angeles federal courthouse was about to begin. Hunter Biden has been charged on nine counts of federal tax evasion to the sum of $1.4 million (£1 million) between 2016 to 2019.
U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi told Hunter Biden that sentencing begins on Dec. 16 and he could face 17 years behind bars and up to $1.35 million in fines.
The last-minute plea came just as jury selection was about to begin.
Hunter Biden gave an initial “Alford plea,” an unusual legal move that involves the defendant pleading guilty to a crime without admitting guilt, acknowledging that there is enough evidence to secure a conviction.
Then Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to all nine counts, a turnaround from January 2024 when he had pleaded not guilty.
He spent his 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,” the indictment reads.
Hunter Biden has denied any improper business dealings.
In a statement after the hearing, Hunter Biden said he pleaded guilty to spare his family from having to sit through a trial that would have aired messy details from a period of his life where he was suffering from drug addiction.
“For all I have put them through over the years, I can spare them this,” he said. He added that he had paid back his taxes.
The trial, if it had continued, would have led into the presidential election campaign, in which Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris is competing against Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump.
Joe Biden stepped down from his reelection campaign on July 21, quickly nominating Harris as his replacement.
This case comes only months after a previous conviction, on June 11, in which Hunter Biden was found guilty over lying about his drug use to buy a gun in 2018, making him the first child of a sitting U.S. president to receive a criminal conviction. He is appealing this case.
Special counsel David Weiss is presiding over both cases as part of a bigger investigation into the Biden family’s alleged corruption.
A special counsel is a special prosecutor that can be appointed—commonly by the attorney general—when an investigation would be a conflict of interest. An example would be legal matters involving sitting and former presidents.
Hunter Biden argued that Weiss had been unlawfully appointed, but Judge Scarsi, a Trump appointee, dismissed this.
Joe Biden has said he would not pardon his son.
