Hunter Biden: The legal troubles of the US president's son (2024)

US President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, is facing a second criminal case after federal prosecutors filed a new set of charges related to his tax affairs.

An indictment alleges that he failed to pay at least $1.4m (£1.1m) in federal taxes that he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019.

It comes after a plea deal, which had been expected to see Mr Biden admit to a number of tax and gun offences in order to avoid prison time, fell through in July.

In September, prosecutors announced they were indicting Mr Biden, 53, with three counts of lying on the application form he used to purchase a handgun in 2018.

And all the while congressional Republicans, who have forged ahead with inquiries into Mr Biden's foreign business dealings, have opened an impeachment inquiry into the president.

Here is a guide to the first son's legal troubles.

The plea deal

In June, prosecutors with the US Department of Justice struck a two-part plea agreement with Hunter Biden's legal team.

Under the deal, he was to be charged with two misdemeanour counts for failing to pay his taxes on time in 2017 and 2018.

He was also to admit that he had illegally possessed a gun while being a drug user, and agree to drug treatment and monitoring in lieu of a more serious felony charge and possible jail time.

Republicans argued the president's son was receiving a "sweetheart deal".

That claim was bolstered by two tax investigators, who testified to Congress that they believed political considerations had hampered the probe and benefited Mr Biden.

At a hearing in Delaware in August, the deal crafted over several months dissolved under scrutiny from the federal judge overseeing the case.

Both sides negotiated unsuccessfully in full view of reporters, before District Judge Maryellen Noreika refused to "rubber-stamp" what she called an "atypical" agreement.

The first indictment

David Weiss, the US attorney in Delaware, began investigating allegations of Mr Biden's criminal conduct in 2019.

On 11 August, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Mr Weiss as special counsel, providing him with extra resources and the power to bring charges in other jurisdictions.

Republicans had previously advocated for the appointment of a special counsel, but criticised the choice of Mr Weiss even though he was a Trump appointee.

They pointed to Mr Weiss' role in brokering the controversial plea deal, as well as the justice department's delay in appointing a special counsel, to argue that he would "protect" Mr Biden from further prosecution and slow down their own inquiries.

On 14 September, prosecutors said they had indicted Mr Biden on three gun charges related to his purchase of a Colt Cobra revolver handgun in October 2018, two months after a stint in rehab.

Two of the counts allege Mr Biden lied that he was not a drug user on the federal application form he filled out to buy the weapon. They each carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

A third count relating to firearm possession while using narcotics carries a maximum prison sentence of five years.

The new legal strategy

The continuing legal battleproceeded without Christopher Clark, who had been Mr Biden's lead attorney for the previous five years.

Mr Clark withdrew from the case on 15 August, writing in a court notice that he could be called as a witness in any potential trial to discuss the plea agreement.

The baton was taken from him by Abbe Lowell, a legal fixture of scandal-ridden Washington who has previously represented Bill Clinton, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.

After Mr Lowell began providing counsel to Mr Biden last December, his legal team began taking a more aggressive posture.

On 18 September, Mr Biden sued the Internal Revenue Service over the congressional testimony of its two tax investigators earlier in the year.

The suit, which seeks $1,000 per unauthorised tax disclosure it alleges, argues the two agents "targeted and sought to embarrass" Mr Biden by publicly sharing his confidential tax information.

Some of the most embarrassing details of Mr Biden's life were revealed by the contents of a laptop he apparently abandoned at a Delaware repair shop in 2019.

Mr Biden also recently sued Trump ally Rudy Giuliani and his former attorney Robert Costello for "unlawful hacking" and the "total annihilation" of his digital privacy.

He had earlier sued the repairman, John Paul Mac Isaac, for invasion of privacy and publication of private information.

The second indictment

The indictment alleges that he "engaged in a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4m in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019".

The charges include failure to file and pay taxes, false tax return and evasion of assessment.

Prosecutors say that, instead of paying his taxes, Mr Biden spent his money on "drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and other items of a personal nature".

They added that he "individually received more than $7 million in total gross income" between 2016 and mid-October 2020, but "wilfully failed to pay his 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 taxes on time, despite having access to funds to pay some or all of these taxes".

Mr Biden eventually paid all his taxes and fines back in 2020 - with the help of a loan from his personal attorney.

The impeachment inquiry

Questions have been raised over the past two decades about Hunter Biden's business practices, and whether he had leveraged his name and access to his powerful father to make money and land clients.

Particular attention has been paid to what he was doing in China and Ukraine during Joe Biden's vice-presidency.

In 2013, the younger Mr Biden became a founding board member at BHR, a private equity firm backed by some of China's local governments and largest state banks.

He went on to a hold a 10% equity stake, although attorney George Mesires has claimed that Mr Biden did not acquire the stake until after his father's tenure as vice-president ended in 2017. He remained with the board until 2020.

In 2014, Mr Biden joined the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian natural gas company where he made about $1.2m per year.

His father was at the time engaged in anti-corruption work as the Obama administration's point man on US-Ukraine relations.

The elder Mr Biden argued the country's top prosecutor Viktor Shokin was blocking corruption investigations and he rallied the international community to push for his ouster.

But Republicans allege Mr Shokin, who was removed by parliament in 2016, was fired because he was investigating Burisma.

The president has long maintained he never discussed business with his son or his associates.

But Devon Archer, a long-time business partner, testified behind closed doors to lawmakers that Mr Biden had frequently put his father on speakerphone during calls with various contacts.

Congressman James Comer, who is leading the inquiry in the House of Representatives oversight committee, has alleged that the then-VP was "the brand" sold to enrich the Biden family.

On 9 August, Mr Comer cited bank records obtained by his panel that he said showed the Biden family and its associates had earned $20m from oligarchs in Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine during his vice-presidency.

On 13 September, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced the launch of a formal impeachment inquiry into the president, alleging a "culture of corruption" within his family.

Mr McCarthy said the inquiry would focus on "allegations of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption" by Joe Biden, though several Republicans questioned whether there was enough evidence to seek the president's removal.

The White House has said it is an "inquiry based on lies".

The child in Arkansas

Separately, Hunter Biden's alcohol and drug abuse, and relationship strife have provided ample fodder for the tabloids - and at least some measure of pain to his family.

In 2019, a DNA test confirmed that, despite his repeated denials, Hunter Biden had fathered a child with an Arkansas woman who filed a paternity suit against him.

Lunden Alexis Roberts has since settled that suit, with her child - Navy, now 4 - receiving an undisclosed amount in monetary child support as well as some of Mr Biden's paintings.

Ms Roberts also agreed to drop a previous effort to have her daughter's last name changed to Biden.

Amid pressure from US media, President Biden was forced to acknowledge his seventh grandchild for the first time in late July.