The son of US President Joe Biden was convicted of gun violations in June. He has now pleaded guilty in another case to avoid another trial.
Los Angeles/Washington – US President’s son Hunter Biden has pleaded guilty to several tax offenses in the case against him. US media, including CNN and NBC, reported this unanimously from the court in Los Angeles. The 54-year-old is thus avoiding a trial that was supposed to start on Thursday with the selection of the jury. CNN and NBC reported that the sentencing in the case is now planned for December 16.
At the start of the court session in Los Angeles, Hunter Biden initially surprised everyone with another legal move and offered an unusual agreement with the judiciary. Specifically, he proposed a judicial deal in which the defendant does not plead guilty in the classic sense, but at the same time acknowledges that the evidence in the case would probably lead to a guilty verdict. However, the prosecution rejected the proposal.
This was followed by Biden’s – also surprising – classic guilty plea. He had previously pleaded not guilty in the case. With his about-face, he has now averted a trial in which further sensitive details from his business and private life would have been laid out in public.
Luxury life instead of paying taxes
In December, Hunter Biden was charged with several tax offenses. The 54-year-old is accused of failing to pay federal taxes properly for several years. He spent millions on an extravagant lifestyle instead of paying his tax bills, the accusation went. Hunter Biden only paid his taxes retroactively.
Specifically, it concerns the years 2016 to mid-October 2020 – shortly before Joe Biden was elected president. During this time, Hunter Biden recorded more than seven million US dollars in income, the indictment said. However, he decided at the time not to pay taxes, but to spend the money on other things: “on drugs, hostesses and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing and other things of a personal nature, in short: on everything except his taxes.”
The meticulous listing of delicate expenses in the indictment, such as for sex clubs and “adult entertainment,” caused a great stir. Hunter Biden would have been very keen not to reveal such details in public in a trial.
Guilty verdict in another case
In another criminal case, Hunter Biden was found guilty of illegal possession of weapons in June. In that case, he was accused of making false statements when purchasing a weapon in October 2018 and of concealing his drug addiction at the time. He denied the charges. All sorts of delicate private matters were dealt with publicly in the trial. The sentence in the weapons case is to be announced on November 13.
Hunter Biden’s negative headlines in recent years and especially his legal problems in recent months have also put political pressure on his father Joe Biden. According to media reports, Hunter Biden is the first child of a sitting US president to be found guilty in a federal criminal case. Republicans used this to launch political attacks against the US president, who has since withdrawn from the campaign for a second term for other reasons. Vice President Kamala Harris will now take his place as the Democratic candidate in the election on November 5.
Joe Biden has made it clear several times that he will not pardon his son or reduce his sentence. The White House spokeswoman stressed on Thursday before Hunter Biden’s guilty plea that this still applies. dpa
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