Washington DC [US], July 26 : US President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden told a federal court in Delaware on Wednesday that he intends to plead guilty to tax charges, CNN reported on Sunday.
Previous court filings indicate that Hunter Biden will admit to two misdemeanours for not paying federal taxes on time in 2017 and 2018, and he will also enter into a deal with prosecutors that would resolve a felony gun charge.
As part of the conditions of release that were outlined at the start of Wednesday’s plea hearing, Hunter Biden cannot drink alcohol or use illegal drugs. He also can be drug tested at random by court officials.
During the plea proceedings, Hunter Biden was asked about his past drug and alcohol abuse, to which he said he was repeatedly in and out of in-patient treatment "over the course of 20 years," CNN reported.
President Biden's son told the judge that he has been sober — from alcohol and drugs — since June 2019.
The Justice Department will recommend probation for Hunter Biden, prosecutors confirmed at his plea hearing. This is part of the negotiated plea agreement.
During the hearing, the prosecutors also highlighted Biden's "substantial income" from Ukrainian and Chinese energy companies, and how he "repeatedly missed" federal tax deadlines.
"He did, in fact, have the funds available" to pay his 2017 taxes on time — but didn't pay, prosecutors said in court. Instead, he continued to "spend wildly" on personal luxuries and expenses, CNN quoted teh prosecutors as saying.
The prosecutors further said that Hunter Biden failed to pay between 1.1-1.5 million USD in federal taxes before the legal deadlines.
According to CNN, this is an unprecedented moment in American history, as never before has the son of the sitting US president walked into a federal courthouse and pleaded guilty to a crime. However, there is no public indication that Joe Biden or the White House ever tried to intervene in the probe.
The Trump-era Justice Department started investigating Hunter Biden in 2018, and the probe steadily expanded to examine whether he violated money laundering and foreign lobbying laws with his multimillion-dollar overseas business dealings. Federal investigators also looked into Hunter Biden’s unpaid taxes and lavish spending, which came amid a struggle with addiction.
The investigation has been led by US attorney David Weiss. He was appointed by former President Donald Trump, and Joe Biden kept him at his post so he could continue handling the probe.
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