President Joe Biden’s 53-year-old son is facing a maximum penalty of 17 years in prison if he is convicted on nine charges brought against him in a federal tax case.
Hunter Biden was indicted on the nine charges Thursday according to the charging documents filed in California, where he lives, as part of the special counsel investigation into his business dealings.
The charges include three felonies – one count of “tax evasion in his 2018 personal taxes and two counts of filing a false return for his 2018 personal taxes and on a corporate income tax return for his company Owasco, PC.,” according to the New York Post.”He has also been hit with six misdemeanor counts of failure to pay and failure to file charges for the 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 tax years.”
“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,” Special Counsel David Weiss wrote in the 56-page indictment.
He added that “In furtherance of that scheme,” the president’s son “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.”
Hunter Biden hit with 9 new charges – filed in CA. Includes:
Evasion of Taxes
Failure to File/Pay Taxes
False/Fraudulent Tax ReturnIndictment details a “four-year scheme” to avoid his $1.4+ million tax obligations and to file false returns. pic.twitter.com/W4W3teGyky
— Techno Fog (@Techno_Fog) December 8, 2023
According to the document, 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,” including more than $27,000 spent on a porn site, “which in total accounted for one fifth of all of the business line of credit expenditures.”
“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,” Weiss wrote.
Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell accused Weiss of “bowing to Republican pressure.”
“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,” Lowell said in a statement.
Statement from Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell: “if Hunter’s last name was anything other than Biden, the charges in Delaware, and now California, would not have been brought.” pic.twitter.com/kEbFO8EEsy
— Josh Wingrove (@josh_wingrove) December 8, 2023
In response to the charges, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the chairman of the House Oversight Committee praised two whistleblower IRS employees, Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, for stepping forward, saying that the indictment is “a complete vindication of our thorough investigation.”
“The Department of Justice got caught in its attempt to give Hunter Biden an unprecedented sweetheart plea deal and today’s charges filed against Hunter Biden are the result of Mr. Shapley and Mr. Ziegler’s efforts to ensure all Americans are treated equally under the law,” Comer said in a statement. “Every American should applaud these men for their courage to expose the truth.
🚨STATEMENT ON HUNTER BIDEN INDICTMENT🚨
The DOJ got caught in its attempt to give Hunter an unprecedented sweetheart plea deal & today’s charges filed against Hunter are the result of IRS whistleblowers who bravely came forward.
Americans should applaud these men.
Read👇 pic.twitter.com/v0EGwCWu74
— Rep. James Comer (@RepJamesComer) December 8, 2023
“Hunter Biden’s corporate entities implicated by today’s indictments funneled foreign cash that landed in Joe Biden’s bank account. Unless US Attorney Weiss investigates everyone involved in the Bidens’ fraud schemes and influence peddling, it will be clear President Biden’s DOJ is protecting Hunter Biden and the big guy,” he added.
George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley reacted on Fox News, saying the indictment “shatters” denials by the president and his family about the business dealings.
“The fact is that this is a circle that is getting tighter around the president,” Turley told “Hannity” host Sean Hannity.
“It is clear that the president has lied. He obviously lied during the first campaign when he said he had no knowledge of these dealings. Hunter himself contradicted that. Hunter’s associate said it was utter nonsense in recent statements after his testimony. He also said that his son didn’t make any money in China. That obviously is not true,” he added.
