Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, is facing new criminal charges, according to a criminal indictment in the Central District of California.
A federal grand jury in California indicted Hunter Biden on nine counts related to his alleged failure to pay over $1 million worth of taxes over a four year period. The younger Biden hauled in more than $7 million in total gross income from foreign business dealings involving Ukrainian, Romanian and Chinese entities, the indictment lays out.
READ THE FULL INDICTMENT:
“At times relevant to this Indictment, the Defendant served on the board of a Ukrainian industrial conglomerate and a Chinese private equity fund. 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,” the indictment reads.
“The Defendant engaged in a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019, from in or about January 2017 through in or about October 15, 2020, and to evade the assessment of taxes for tax year 2018 when he filed false returns in or about February 2020,” the indictment adds.
Hunter Biden is being charged with three felonies and six misdemeanors including failure to pay taxes and failure to file taxes. The indictment proceeds to lay out Hunter Biden’s business dealings with Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings, Chinese infrastructure company CEFC and a Romanian oligarch previously thought to be Gabriel Popoviciu.
The evidence contained in the indictment related to Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings was previously disclosed by House Oversight Committee lawmakers and IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler. Bank records released by the Oversight Committee beginning in March show the payments to Hunter Biden and his business associates from foreign entities exceeded $24 million.
Both IRS whistleblowers came forward to the House Ways and Means Committee with allegations the Department of Justice (DOJ) gave Hunter Biden special treatment during the criminal investigation. In a statement released Thursday evening, Shapley and Ziegler said they were vindicated by the new indictment.
The fresh indictment provides details on Hunter Biden’s book deal for his memoir and expenses paid by his “Personal Friend” adding up to over $1 million. The third party financier was identified by Ziegler as Hollywood attorney Kevin Morris, who is believed to have paid roughly $2 million of Hunter Biden’s tax burdens.
Hunter Biden spent more than $4 million during the 2016-19 time period on a lavish lifestyle featuring drugs, prostitutes, girlfriends, luxury vehicles and other expensive goods, the indictment shows on page 13. Even after he became sober, Biden still failed to pay his overdue taxes and spent large sums of money to maintain his high powered lifestyle, according to the indictment.
“Notably, in 2020, well after he had regained his sobriety, and when he finally filed his outstanding 2016, 2017, and 2018 Forms 1040, the Defendant did not direct any payments toward his tax liabilities for each of those years. At the same time, the Defendant spent large sums to maintain his lifestyle from January through October 15, 2020,” the indictment asserts.
He spent over $600,000 on payments to various women and over $180,000 on adult entertainment. His rehab stint set him back around $70,000 and his spending on clothing and accessories approached $400,000, expenses from his Owasco P.C. bank account show.
Special counsel David Weiss had been investigating Hunter Biden’s taxes with help from a California grand jury. Biden has lived in the Los Angeles, California, metropolitan area since 2018, the new indictment says.
Court documents were not initially publicized when the news of Hunter Biden’s criminal charges was reported by multiple outlets. CNN first reported the federal charges against Hunter Biden were imminent, citing people briefed on the matter.
A spokesperson for Weiss declined comment to Fox News and a White House spokesperson declined to comment to NBC News.
“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,” Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell said in a statement, the Messenger reported. Lowell blamed Weiss for purportedly caving to Republican pressure and allegedly leaking the criminal charges to the media.
BREAKING: DOJ files new criminal charges against Hunter Biden. SCOOP from @evanperez. More on @cnn momentarily
— Paula Reid (@PaulaReidCNN) December 8, 2023
Hunter Biden was indicted in September on three federal gun charges, to which he pleaded not guilty at an October arraignment in Delaware. (RELATED: James Comer, Jim Jordan Threaten Hunter Biden With Contempt Of Congress)
Biden-appointed U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California E. Martin Estrada previously refused to cooperate with Weiss on the Hunter Biden case, both men confirmed when they testified before the House Judiciary Committee, according to transcripts reviewed by the Daily Caller. Estrada’s conduct was first brought to light by the IRS whistleblowers.
In August, Weiss withdrew previously filed Delaware tax charges against Hunter Biden in order to prosecute him in California or the District of Columbia. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Weiss special counsel in August following the collapse of Hunter Biden’s guilty plea deal for the two Delaware tax charges and a pretrial diversion agreement for a felony gun charge.
U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Delaware Maryellen Noreika derailed the plea deal when she discovered a prosecutorial immunity provision inside of the pretrial diversion agreement. DOJ prosecutor Leo Wise admitted to Noreika the immunity clause had no precedent.
“Two brave IRS whistleblowers, Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, placed their careers on the line to blow the whistle on misconduct and politicization in the Hunter Biden criminal investigation,” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said in a press release.
“The Department of Justice got caught in its attempt to give Hunter Biden an unprecedented sweetheart plea deal and today’s charges filed against Hunter Biden are the result of Mr. Shapley and Mr. Ziegler’s efforts to ensure all Americans are treated equally under the law. Every American should applaud these men for their courage to expose the truth.”
