Hunter Biden makes final plea in tax case

Hunter Biden has offered to plead guilty in his federal tax evasion case, seemingly surprising and angering federal prosecutors who arrived in court Thursday to prepare to begin his trial.

Biden has previously denied prosecutors’ allegations that he deliberately evaded $1.4m (£1m) in income tax between 2016 and 2019.

Biden initially said he wanted to enter a so-called Alford plea — where he would accept the charges while maintaining his innocence — but prosecutors objected.

He later said he would simply plead guilty, but prosecutors also rejected this latest offer, according to BBC news partner CBS News.

His last-minute reversal, announced for the first time in a Los Angeles court as jury selection was about to begin, could lead to his second criminal conviction this year.

Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said his client wanted the trial to end on Thursday “for his own good,” avoiding having his friends and family testify about something that happened “when he was addicted to drugs.”

When Judge Mark Scarsi asked Biden if he understood the maximum sentence he could face was 15 years in prison, the president’s son replied: “I understand.”

The judge also warned Biden that the fine could range from $500,000 to $1 million.

President Joe Biden has previously said he would not use his executive powers to pardon his son.

The prosecution — representing President Biden’s Justice Department — said it was “shocked” by Alford’s plea offer and was unwilling to agree to a deal if it allowed Hunter Biden to assert his innocence.

“Hunter Biden is not innocent. Hunter Biden is guilty,” lead prosecutor Leo Wise said in court.

“We are going to court today to try this case.”

Biden had previously sought to dismiss the case, arguing that the Justice Department investigation was politically motivated and that he was selectively targeted because Republican lawmakers were working to impeach his father.

He also argued that the special counsel in the case, David Weiss, was appointed illegally.

Those arguments were rejected by Judge Scarsi, who is overseeing the case and is considering whether to accept Biden’s new plea.

The president’s son was charged with three felony tax offenses and six misdemeanors in December. These include failure to file and pay taxes, tax evasion and filing false tax returns.

According to the indictment, Biden earned $7 million in income from foreign business deals between 2016 and 2019.

The indictment also said he spent nearly $5 million during that period on “everything but taxes.”

Those purchases included drugs, prostitutes, lavish hotels, luxury cars and clothing, which Biden allegedly mislabeled as business expenses, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors said Biden’s actions amounted to “a four-year conspiracy.”

“In each year that the defendant failed to pay his taxes, the defendant had sufficient funds to pay some or all of the taxes owed when they were due,” the indictment said. “But the defendant chose not to pay.”

His tax evasion trial marks Biden’s second federal criminal trial this year.

In June, he was convicted of gun possession and drug use, becoming the first son of a sitting US president to be criminally convicted.

Specifically, Biden was convicted of three felonies related to purchasing a handgun in 2018 while struggling with drug addiction, and lying about drug use on a federal application to purchase a gun.