Malibu resident and son of President Joseph Biden, Hunter Biden, has been charged by the Justice Department with federal tax evasion charges. After a wide-ranging and long-running investigation into the younger Biden’s finances, a federal grand jury indicted the 53-year-old on nine counts. The charges include failure to file and pay taxes, evasion of assessment, claiming false business deductions, and filing a false and fraudulent tax return.
In a 56-page indictment,prosecutors allege Hunter Biden “engaged in a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4 million” in taxes that he owed for a three-year period spanning from 2016 through 2019.
If convicted of the charges filed in California December 7, Hunter Biden could face up to 17 years in prison.
In August, Hunter Biden was close to reaching a plea deal to avoid jail time and potentially grant him broader immunity from further prosecution, but that deal collapsed. Then in September he was indicted for the illegal purchase of a handgun in 2018 when he was prohibited from owning a firearm due to his use of illegal drugs.
Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, has said that “based on 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 brought.”