Convicted felon Hunter Biden is scheduled to appear in a California federal courthouse on Thursday for a tax trial that could last more than one month.
Special Counsel David Weiss indicted Hunter in December on nine tax charges, including three felonies: allegedly failing to file taxes, evading an assessment, and filing a fraudulent form. The most serious allegations stem from the three felony charges: 1) tax evasion for 2018, 2) filing a false personal tax return for 2018, and 3) filing a false corporate tax return for 2018.
For Hunter to be convicted, prosecutors must prove he “willfully” broke the law. He could face a maximum of 17 years in prison if convicted.
Below are five things to know about the case:
ONE:
In August, Judge Mark Scarsi granted Hunter’s request that Weiss not mention several allegations that tie President Joe Biden to the case, according to court filings. Those include:
- Violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA)
- Improperly coordinating with the Obama administration
- Receiving direct compensation from any foreign state
- Receiving compensation for actions his father took that impacted national or international politics
- Funneling money to his father or any related alleged corruption
TWO:
Court filings state that the Department of Justice (DOJ) intends to introduce evidence not only related to Hunter’s Romanian business partner but to CEFC China Energy Co. and Burisma Holdings, two entities that paid Hunter millions both when his father was vice president and a private citizen.
Hunter accepted $3,101,258 from Romanian partner Gabriel Popoviciu to “influence U.S. government agencies” when Joe Biden served as vice president, Weiss said in August.
THREE:
Legal experts criticized Weiss’s scope of the indictment for three reasons:
- Weiss did not charge Hunter as an unregistered foreign agent.
- Limiting the indictment to tax evasion avoids influence-peddling (implicating Joe Biden).
- Weiss indicted Hunter on tax evasion that allegedly only occurred in recent years.
FOUR:
Weiss could still charge Hunter with violating FARA because his sweetheart plea deal, which was negotiated to give him sweeping immunity, fell apart. The sweetheart deal crumbled under judicial scrutiny, and Weiss subsequently filed separate gun and tax charges in Delaware and California, respectively.
FIVE:
The CIA prevented the DOJ from questioning Kevin Morris as a witness in its probe of Hunter, IRS whistleblower emails that the House Ways and Means Committee released in May show.
Morris, a Hollywood lawyer who lent Hunter $2 million with “no ulterior motive” to satisfy IRS debt, was apparently involved with the CIA in August 2021. The DOJ could not speak with Morris “as a witness” in its probe of Hunter based on CIA direction, according to previously unreleased, sensitive information that IRS special agent and current whistleblower Gary Shapley gathered.
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former RNC War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.
