LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Just as jury selection was set to begin in Hunter Biden’s tax evasion trial in downtown Los Angeles, an attorney for the president’s son indicated Thursday that Biden is prepared to plead guilty in the case.
The announcement by attorney Abbe Lowell prompted U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi to recess proceedings for two hours, with the attorneys expected to discuss the possibility of a plea deal and reconvene in a downtown courtroom late Thursday morning.
Lowell indicated that Biden, 54, of Malibu, was willing to enter a guilty plea, although he would continue to maintain his innocence — known in legal parlance as an “Alford plea.”
It remained unclear exactly to which counts, if not all, Biden was willing to plead guilty. It also was unclear whether prosecutors would agree to accept such a plea, of which they had no prior knowledge prior to Lowell’s announcement in court Thursday morning. Scarsi would also have to approve any potential plea deal.
Biden is facing nine tax-related counts — three felonies and six misdemeanors — of failing to pay more than $1.4 million in taxes. Prosecutors contend in the indictment that Biden “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills,” the indictment alleges.
Defense lawyers say they believe the case was brought “in direct response to political pressure,” according to filings in Los Angeles federal court.
Hunter Biden’s attorneys said the defendant has repaid the government $2 million in back taxes and penalties. He is charged with evading a tax assessment, failing to file and pay taxes, and filing a false or fraudulent tax return.
His trial was expected to last two weeks, with opening statements anticipated Monday in the courtroom of Scarsi, an appointee of former President Donald Trump.
Evidence of the younger Biden’s partying during a period when he was admittedly using crack cocaine and allegedly willfully failing to pay more than $1.4 million in taxes may become part of the trial, federal prosecutors indicated.
Scarsi previously rejected Hunter Biden’s bid to toss the case after the defendant sought to argue that David Weiss, the special counsel overseeing the prosecution, was improperly appointed.
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Biden’s request to revive a bid to have the charges against him dismissed.
Regarding the tax charges, the 56-page indictment alleges that between 2016 and Oct. 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.”
Hunter Biden’s defense attorney, veteran Los Angeles criminal lawyer Mark Geragos, unsuccessfully petitioned the court to allow testimony that the death of the defendant’s mother and sister in a 1972 car crash and the death of his brother from cancer in 2015 caused him to ignore his tax obligations.
This is Hunter Biden’s second federal criminal case of 2024. In June, the president’s son was convicted of three felony charges in a separate case brought in Delaware stemming from his 2018 purchase of a gun. Hunter Biden was found guilty of having lied on a mandatory gun-purchase form by saying he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs — when, in fact, he later admitted to having been addicted to illegal narcotics at the time.
Court papers show Hunter Biden is scheduled to be sentenced in the Delaware gun case on Nov. 13, in the week after the presidential election.
Described in the indictment as a Georgetown- and Yale-educated lawyer, lobbyist, consultant and businessperson, Hunter Biden served on the board of a Ukrainian industrial conglomerate and a Chinese private equity fund during the time of the tax allegations.
“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,” according to the indictment for tax evasion.
In addition to his business interests, the defendant was an employee of a multinational law firm, the document states.
Hunter Biden has said he had forgotten to pay his taxes during a period when he was in the grip of drug addiction.
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