Hunter Biden pleads guilty to federal tax charges

The president’s son’s guilty plea will head off the cost and reputational toll of a trial that was expected to further shine an unflattering light on his past business dealings.

Hunter Biden has agreed to plead guilty to federal tax charges, heading off the cost and reputational toll of a trial that was expected to further shine an unflattering light on his past business dealings and freewheeling lifestyle.

Biden’s surprise plea capped a whirlwind morning in Los Angeles federal court, where jury selection was set to begin for Biden’s tax trial.

At the outset of Thursday’s court proceedings, Biden’s lawyer proposed an unusual deal where President Joe Biden’s son would maintain his innocence while conceding that the evidence was sufficient for a guilty verdict.

Prosecutors said they were shocked by the proposal of a so-called Alford deal and wouldn’t support any plea without an admission of guilt. “Hunter Biden is not innocent. Hunter Biden is guilty,” prosecutor Leo Wise told US District Judge Mark Scarsi, a Trump appointee presiding over the case.

Meanwhile, more than 100 potential jurors sat waiting elsewhere in the courthouse.

Later Thursday, an attorney for Mr Biden came back from a break and told Judge Scarsi his client would abandon the Alford plea and plead guilty without any negotiated deal with prosecutors working under special counsel David Weiss.

“Let’s move on,” Abbe Lowell, Mr Biden’s attorney, said in court. Lowell said the criminal case has marked a difficult time for the Biden family and that further strain would come from a Los Angeles trial that was set to include Biden family members as witnesses.

As the plea got under way, Judge Scarsi told Mr Biden the charges come with a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum fine of between $500,000 and $1 million.

Prosecutors have said that Mr Biden, a Yale Law School graduate, spent lavishly on drugs, escorts and luxury hotels, all while neglecting his tax obligations.

The president’s son previously pleaded not guilty in January to charges he failed to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes he owed for the years 2016 through 2019. The nine charges included three felonies and six misdemeanors that allege he failed to file returns or pay taxes during a drug-fueled spending frenzy.

For the Biden family, the Los Angeles trial loomed as the bookend to a difficult period where a sitting president’s son has had to defend himself in two trials on opposite coasts against the Justice Department of his own father’s administration.

President Biden has said he wouldn’t use his clemency powers to pardon his son or commute any potential sentences. On Thursday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre repeated that pledge when talking to reporters aboard Air Force One.

She declined to comment on whether President Biden’s decision not to seek another term affected Hunter Biden’s legal strategy. On Wednesday, Ms Jean-Pierre reiterated that Mr Biden and first lady Jill Biden are proud of their son for changing his life after years of drug and alcohol abuse.

Dow Jones