Hunter Biden to appear in court in January 2024 over federal tax charges
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Hunter Biden is expected to plead not guilty at his arraignment over a Dec 8 indictment.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LOS ANGELES - Hunter Biden must appear on Jan 11, 2024 in a Los Angeles court to respond to federal charges that he failed to pay taxes
The arraignment will be before Magistrate Judge Alka Sagar at 1pm Pacific time, according to the court’s website.
The son of President Joe Biden, he’s expected to plead not guilty at his arraignment over a Dec 8 indictment secured by Special Counsel David Weiss.
House Republicans have made Hunter Biden’s overseas business dealings a central focus of their impeachment inquiry into his father.
A federal grand jury charged Hunter Biden last week with failing to pay US$1.4 million (S$1.9 million) in taxes from 2016 to 2019 even as he spent millions of dollars on a drug-fuelled life featuring escorts, fast cars and luxury hotels, much of it while he was in the grips of addiction.
He could face 17 years in prison if convicted of the three felonies and six misdemeanours in his indictment.
Hunter Biden, 53, is expected to face trial in 2024, as his father seeks re-election in an expected rematch with Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination.
Trump, who faces four criminal indictments,
Weiss’ indictment offered no evidence the president benefited from or was involved in his son’s activities – a link that Republicans have long tried to establish.
Prosecutors allege Hunter Biden made more than US$7 million in gross income from 2016 to 2020, including from a Ukrainian energy company, Burisma Holdings, and a Chinese private equity firm, CEFC China Energy.
Instead of paying taxes, prosecutors say, he spent money on “drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and other items of a personal nature”.
Hunter Biden also faces a separate trial in Delaware on federal gun charges.
Both trials would have been unnecessary under a plea deal he agreed to July in Delaware. He would have admitted to two misdemeanour tax counts and acknowledged a firearms violation without a conviction, receiving no jail time. But the deal imploded when a federal judge questioned its terms and refused to sign off on it.
In court filings in Delaware on Dec 11, Hunter Biden’s lawyers argued that both indictments should be dropped because their client has immunity under a deal he struck with Weiss in July.
US District Judge Mark Scarsi is overseeing the tax case. BLOOMBERG
