President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden is accused in a new federal indictment of spending “millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills,” the indictment says.
The latest indictment, filed on December 7, 2023, by Special Counsel David Weiss, accuses Hunter Biden of nine tax-related charges. According to NBC News, the president’s son faces up to 17 years in prison on the charges, if convicted, as the accusations include three felony charges.
Read the full Hunter Biden indictment here. Attorney General Merrick Garland named Weiss to be special counsel over the Hunter Biden case he was already in charge of, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice, sparking a flurry of controversy. A previous plea agreement with Hunter Biden fell apart when a judge questioned it. IRS whistleblower testimony to Congress was then released by Republicans in which they accused the U.S. Department of Justice of blocking their efforts to investigate Hunter Biden.
Weiss was nominated to be U.S. Attorney by the Trump White House.
Hunter Biden “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, from in or about January 2017 through about October 15, 2020, and to evade the assessment of taxes for the year 2018 when he filed false returns in or about February 2020 in furtherance of that scheme,” the indictment says.
The lengthy indictment details the multiple money sources, some involving foreign companies, that flooded money to Hunter Biden. It also outlines a series of expenditures that the government is questioning.
The White House has yet to comment on the charges, NBC News reported.
Here’s what you need to know:
Hunter Biden Is Accused of Taking False Deductions for Payments to Escorts, Luxury Clothing & His Daughter’s College Advising Services
GettyHunter Biden
The indictment calls Hunter Biden, who is referred to as Robert Hunter Biden, a “Georgetown-and Yale-educated lawyer, lobbyist, consultant, businessperson” and, since 2018, a resident of Los Angeles, California.
Among other accusations, the indictment accuses Hunter Biden of claiming false “Office and Miscellaneous” deductions for items including, but not limited to, “the purchase of luxury clothing, payments to escorts and dancers, and payments for his daughter’s college advising services.”
“Between 2016 and October 15, 2020,” the indictment says Hunter Biden spent 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.”
For example, the indictment accuses Hunter Biden of circling $1,248 in payments for “airline tickets as a business expense for an exotic dancer to fly from Los Angeles to New York in September 2018.”
In 2018, Hunter Biden’s ex-wife “texted him that she had discovered their unfiled 2016 tax returns in the trunk of his car,” the indictment says.
Hunter Biden Is Accused of Placing Women He Had Sexual Relationships With on His Payroll
GettyVice-President Joe Biden and sons Hunter Biden, left, and Beau Biden walk in the Inaugural Parade January 20, 2009 in Washington, DC.
According to the indictment, Hunter Biden placed a woman on his payroll in summer 2018. It says
Person 4 had a sexual relationship with the Defendant and acted as a ‘West Coast’ personal assistant, running errands, and performing other personal tasks. Person 4 received $13,000 in wages which the Defendant falsely claimed as a business deduction reducing the income to him from Owasco, PC and his individual income taxes,” the indictment says.
In another case, a person who brought a paternity suit against Hunter Biden was placed on his payroll while she was pregnant with his child, the indictment says. “Person 1 did not perform any work after being formally placed on payroll in spring 2018 and had no work-related communication with the Defendant after she was placed on payroll,” the indictment says. “Person 1 received $22,500 in wages which the Defendant falsely claimed as a business deduction reducing the income to him from Owasco, PC and his individual income taxes.”
This is clearly a reference to Lunden Roberts, who bore Hunter Biden’s child Navy.
The Government Says That Hunter Biden Had a ‘Legal Obligation to Pay Taxes on All His Income’
GettyIn this screenshot from the DNC’s livestream of the 2020 Democratic National Convention, Hunter Biden, son of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, addresses the virtual convention on August 20, 2020.
According to the indictment, Hunter Biden “had a legal obligation to pay taxes on all his income, including income earned in Ukraine from his service on Burisma’s Board, fees generated by deal-making with the Chinese private equity fund, as well as income derived from his work as a lawyer and other sources.”
The indictment alleges he did not do so.
At times relevant to the indictment he was on the board of a “Ukrainian industrial conglomerate and a Chinese private equity fund. He negotiated and executed contracts and agreements for business and legal services that paid millions of dollars of compensation to him and/or his domestic corporations, Owasco, PC and Owasco LLC,” the indictment says.
He was also an employee of a multi-national law firm, it notes.
Hunter Biden is accused of having “subverted the payroll and tax withholding process of his own company, Owasco, PC by withdrawing millions from Owasco, PC outside of the payroll and tax withholding process that it was designed to perform.”
Hunter Biden did not always pay his taxes on time and stopped paying outstanding and overdue taxes in some cases, the indictment says.
“When he did finally file his 2018 returns,” the indictment says, 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 Indictment Says Hunter Biden Earned ‘Millions of dollars’
GettyHunter Biden’s alleged laptop is causing controversy.
The indictment details Hunter Biden’s income, saying he made “millions of dollars in income from 2016-2020. Between 2016 and October 15, 2020, the Defendant individually received more than $7 million in total gross income.”
The indictment says he initially received a $1 million annual salary from his work on the board of Burisma Holdings, a “Ukrainian industrial conglomerate.” This was reduced to $500,000.
“In the fall of 2015, the Defendant entered into an oral agreement with Business Associate 1 purportedly to help a Romanian businessperson, G.P., contest bribery charges he was facing in his home country,” the indictment says. “G.P. paid an entity associated with Business Associate 1, through G.P.’s Romanian business. Between November 2015 and May 2017, Business Associate 1’s entity received approximately $3,101,258, which was split roughly into thirds between the Defendant, Business Associate 1, and Business Associate 2.”
In the late fall of 2015, “the Defendant, Business Associate 1, and Business Associate 2 began to investigate potential infrastructure projects with individuals associated with CEFC China Energy Co Ltd. (CEFC), a Chinese energy conglomerate,” the indictment says.
It contends:
In or around December of that year, the Defendant met in Washington, D.C., with individuals associated with CEFC. During the next two years the Defendant, Business Associate 1, and Business Associate 2 continued to meet with individuals associated with CEFC, including in February 2017, with CEFC’s then-Chairman (hereafter “the Chairman”).
On or about March 1, 2017, State Energy HK, a Hong Kong entity associated with CEFC, paid approximately $3 million to Business Associate 1’s entity for sourcing deals and for identifying other potential ventures. The Defendant had an oral agreement with Business Associate 1 to receive one-third of those funds, or a million dollars. The Defendant, in turn, directed a portion of those million dollars to Business Associate 3.
After the State Energy HK payment, the Defendant, Business Associate 1, and Business Associate 2 began negotiating a joint venture with individuals associated with CEFC, which they called SinoHawk.
Over the summer of 2017, the Defendant cut out his SinoHawk business partners and separately negotiated a venture with individuals associated with CEFC called Hudson West III (“HWIII”). On or about August 2, 2017, the Defendant executed, on behalf of Owasco, PC the operating agreement for HWIII. HWIII was funded with an initial $5,000,000 capital contribution from an entity that was not owned or controlled by the Defendant.
According to the indictment, in 2017, HWIII “transferred approximately $400,000 to Owasco, PC. Thereafter, Owasco, PC received monthly transfers of approximately $165,000. In total, HWIII made seven transfers to Owasco, PC in 2017 totaling approximately $1.445 million.”
“The Defendant then transferred approximately $555,000 of these funds from Owasco, PC’s Wells Fargo Account to Business Associate 3. In 2018, HWIII made another 15 transfers to Owasco, PC, totaling approximately $2.1 million, and the Defendant transferred approximately $843,999 of these funds to
Business Associate 3,” the indictment says.
The indictment outlines other sources of Hunter Biden’s income, including financial support from “an entertainment lawyer,” from his memoir, and from a venture capital firm operated by a trial attorney.
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