Posted on 12/07/23
| News Source: The Hill
Hunter Biden has been charged with tax crimes in California, his second indictment from Special Counsel David Weiss as he faces mounting scrutiny over his financial dealings.
Hunter Biden will face three felony tax charges in relation to tax evasion and filing a false return, as well as six misdemeanor charges for failure to pay taxes between 2016 and 2019.
“Hunter Biden engaged in a four-year scheme in which he chose not to pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019 and to evade the assessment of taxes for tax year 2018 when he filed false returns,” prosecutors wrote in a Thursday night press release.
Together, the charges carry up to 17 years in prison upon conviction and come as Hunter Biden is facing congressional scrutiny over his business dealings and a subpoena for a deposition next week in connection with their impeachment inquiry.
The charges follow the evaporation of a plea deal earlier this year in which Biden was set to plead guilty to willful failure to pay taxes as well as enter a diversion program in connection with a gun crime.
But the deal fell apart as Weiss and attorneys for Biden came before a Delaware judge who would need to approve the deal, at odds over the extent the president’s son would be immune to further prosecution.
Weiss, also the U.S. Attorney for Delaware, has since filed charges in that state on three counts related to Biden’s purchase of a firearm while denying drug use he later acknowledged publicly, speaking in his book and elsewhere about his battles with addiction.
The charges for Biden come as the House is preparing to take a vote to formalize their impeachment inquiry into President Biden.