WASHINGTON, DC: US President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to all nine charges in his federal tax case Thursday, and District Judge Mark Scarsi in Los Angeles has accepted his plea, CNN reported.
Sentencing is scheduled for December 16, notably after November’s presidential election.
The president’s son has now officially pleaded guilty to one count of felony tax evasion, two counts of felony filing fraudulent tax returns, four misdemeanor counts of failing to pay taxes, and two misdemeanor counts of failing to file tax returns, as per CNN.
The guilty plea came in a convoluted all-day hearing on the same day that his trial was supposed to begin with jury selection in Los Angeles.
About 120 prospective jurors waited in a sequestered assembly room throughout the day, while prosecutors and Hunter Biden’s lawyers haggled in court over how to move forward.
According to CNN, the plea also came hours after Hunter Biden offered an “Alford plea,” where he would’ve maintained his innocence, skipped a trial, and accepted any punishment at sentencing. But Biden’s team backed away from that plan after prosecutors raised forceful objections, and the judge said he’d want to study the matter and reconvene Friday morning.
The guilty plea was a unilateral move by Hunter Biden, called an “open plea” because it was done without a pre-arranged plea bargain with prosecutors.
It’s rare for a high-profile defendant to plead guilty to crimes without a leniency deal with prosecutors.
“We were as shocked as everyone else in the courtroom this morning,” prosecutor Leo Wise said.
But in a surprising turn Thursday afternoon, Biden’s team changed course and instead said he is prepared to enter an “open plea” and admit that his conduct satisfied the elements of the tax offences with which he had been charged.
Biden said under oath in federal court in Los Angeles Thursday that nobody made him any promises, to convince him to plead guilty in his tax case. The president’s son also testified that nobody pressured him to plead guilty in any way.
After prosecutors read the full 56-page indictment during the plea proceeding, which took nearly 90 minutes, Scarsi asked Hunter Biden standard questions that are part of every pea deal.
“Do you agree that you committed every element of every crime?” Scarsi asked.
“Yes,” Hunter Biden responded.
The resolution of the tax case came on the brink of a trial in downtown Los Angeles. This would have been Biden’s second criminal trial this year, after he was convicted in June on three federal gun charges in Wilmington, Delaware.
According to CNN, prosecutors alleged that Biden failed to pay USD 1.4 million in federal taxes and evaded taxes by filing tax returns with fraudulent business deductions.
The president’s son eventually paid roughly USD 2 million in back taxes and penalties after learning of the investigation and getting sober, following a years-long struggle with drug addiction and alcoholism. (ANI)