Hunter Biden: President’s son charged with evading tax – and spending cash on drugs, escorts and exotic cars
Hunter Biden has been criminally charged for tax-related offences in California, as a federal investigation into his financial conduct intensifies.
The president’s son has been indicted on nine counts – three felonies and six misdemeanours – by special counsel David Weiss who is investigating his business dealings for the Department of Justice.
According to the 56-page indictment, Biden chose not to pay at least $1.4m (£1.1m) between 2016 and 2019 in self-assessed federal taxes, and evaded the assessment of taxes in 2018 when he filed false returns.
Prosecutors allege he used the money to fund an “extravagant lifestyle” including drugs, escorts, cars and clothes.
If convicted, Biden could face up to 17 years in prison – although actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties, according to the Department of Justice.
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Hunter Biden indicted on gun charges
This indictment follows gun charges filed in Delaware in mid-September, where federal prosecutors allege Biden lied about his drug use when he bought a gun that he kept for 11 days in 2018.
He had previously been expected to plead guilty to misdemeanour tax charges as part of a deal with prosecutors, but the deal fell apart in July after scrutiny from the judge.
Republicans also heavily criticised it as a “sweetheart deal”, as they continue to claim that the judicial system gives Biden preferential treatment, and that the young Biden’s legal troubles are evidence of his father’s corruption.
Both claims are strenuously denied by the Department of Justice, and the White House.
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Hunter Biden and President Biden in Washington DC in June
Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell signalled his intent to fight the new charges, saying in a statement: “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.
“Now, after five years of investigating with no new evidence – and two years after Hunter paid his taxes in full – the US Attorney has piled on nine new charges when he had agreed just months ago to resolve this matter with a pair of misdemeanours.
“All these issues will now be addressed in various courts, the first to occur this Monday when the prosecutors knew our motions to dismiss their first set of questionable charges would be filed.”
The White House declined to comment on the new charges.
Dozens of supporters were outside court as the man accused of fatally shooting the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare made his first appearance.
Luigi Mangione has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of murder following the 4 December killing of Brian Thompson, 50, outside a midtown Manhattan hotel.
The 26-year-old is accused of ambushing and shooting the executive as he walked to an investor conference.
Luigi Mangione supporters stand outside the Supreme Court. Pic: AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah
Dozens of people who showed up in court to support the suspect including former army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning who was jailed for stealing classified diplomatic cables.
Dozens more queued in the hallway.
Mangione is also facing federal charges that could carry the possibility of the death penalty.
The judge set a deadline of 9 April to submit pre-trial motions.
Luigi Mangione is accused of fatally shooting Brian Thompson. Pic: Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP
In addition to the New York cases, Mr Mangione also faces charges of forgery, carrying firearms without a licence, and other counts in Pennsylvania, where authorities arrested him at a McDonald’s.
Police say he was in possession of a gun, bullets, multiple fake IDs and a handwritten document that expressed “ill will” towards corporate America.
He is being held in a Brooklyn jail alongside several other high-profile defendants, including music mogul and rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, and disgraced crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried.
The killing prompted some to voice their resentment at US health insurers, with Mangione attracting a cult following.
A poll taken in the wake of the shooting showed most Americans believe health insurance profits and coverage denials were partly to blame for the incident.
Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron have not “done anything” to end the Ukraine war, US President Donald Trump has said.
He called the French president a “friend of mine” and the UK leader a “nice guy” but said Russia had only agreed to negotiate “because of me”.
Mr Trump made the comments days before both leaders visit the White House for a meeting in which they must try to press Ukraine‘s case while keeping the US leader onside.
Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron in Paris: Pic: Number 10/Flickr
The president also continued his criticism of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying he had “no cards” to play.
“I’ve been watching for years, and I’ve been watching him negotiate with no cards. He has no cards. And you get sick of it. You just get sick of it. And I’ve had it,” he told a Fox radio show.
The comments come after he recently called the Ukrainian leader a “dictator without elections” – apparently in response to Mr Zelenskyy saying his US counterpart was living in a “disinformation space” after Mr Trump claimed Ukraine had started the war.
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Ukraine was also excluded from talks between the top US and Russian diplomats in Riyadh earlier this week.
They were intended to set the stage for future negotiations on ending the war, which started when Russia launched a full-scale invasion three years ago.
Speaking on Friday evening, Mr Trump denied speculation he could visit Moscow for talks on 9 May – the day Russia celebrates its victory over the Nazis.
President Trump speaks in the Oval Office on Friday. Pic: Reuters
Mr Trump also told reporters the Russian and Ukrainian leaders needed to “work together” to end the war.
However, the US has already dealt a huge blow to Kyiv’s position in any future talks.
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said last week that a return to pre-war borders was “unrealistic” and ruled out NATO membership as way to guarantee Kyiv’s security.
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President Zelenskyy has insisted he will not accept any deal that his country is not involved in.
Ukraine’s leader held talks with US envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv on Thursday, describing it later as a “good discussion”.
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Mr Kellogg struck a markedly different tone to President Trump when he called Mr Zelenskyy the “courageous leader of a nation at war”.
However, there are concerns over how much influence Mr Kellogg has, with a Ukrainian source saying there was a sense he had been sidelined.
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