Hunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden, pleaded guilty to tax evasion in a Los Angeles court on Thursday, avoiding a trial that could have revealed sordid details of his private life.
Hunter Biden, 54, skipped paying $1.4 million in taxes over the past decade, instead spending on a life of luxury that included sex workers and drug addiction.
A Los Angeles court was preparing to select a jury Thursday when Biden’s defense team surprised the court by announcing that their client was willing to plead guilty to all nine tax offenses in an attempt to reach a deal with prosecutors that would allow him to avoid trial and jail.
However, the prosecution did not accept the offer, and Biden chose to plead guilty, avoiding trial.
Biden, who was convicted in a separate trial this year in Delaware of lying about his drug use to acquire a firearm, said, according to US media, that he made the decision to “spare his family from this.”
“I went to trial in Delaware not realizing the anguish it would cause my family, and I will not put them through that again,” Biden said in the statement.
The aforementioned trial, for which he faces a sentence of up to 25 years in prison, brought up his extravagant lifestyle, the collapse of his marriage and his heavy use of crack.
By moving forward with the California tax evasion case, Biden risks exposing sordid details of his private life, which his family, including the president, have long been aware of.
“For all that I’ve put them through over the years, I can spare them this, so I’ve decided to plead guilty,” Biden added, accusing the prosecution of being focused on dehumanizing him for his period of addiction and not on delivering justice.
Joe Biden will not pardon him if he is convicted
Judge Mark Scarsi set a December 16 sentencing date for the California case, which could carry a sentence of up to 17 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million.
Joe Biden could commute his sentence with a presidential pardon, but the president has been emphatic in saying he would not do such a thing. “It’s still a ‘no,'” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday.
His defense argued that the tax evasion was an oversight amid a chaotic life due to drug addiction and the trauma of losing his brother Beau, who died of a brain tumor in 2015.
Something Biden defends in the statement released on Thursday. “When I was an addict, I didn’t think about my taxes, I thought about surviving,” he wrote.
Hunter Biden paid his debts to the tax authorities, as well as the fines. To avoid trial and jail, he tried to seal a plea deal last year, which was not reached.
He has been trying to reach another agreement ever since, and his offer on Thursday was his last bet.
Hunter Biden has been a frequent target of his father’s opponents, who have tried – without evidence – to portray the family as a group of criminals who gained power and wealth thanks to the current president’s political career.
Joe Biden’s decision to stop running for re-election has dampened interest in the controversy over his son, as Republicans now have to face Vice President Kamala Harris.
Hunter Biden, a Yale-trained lawyer turned painter who lives in coastal Malibu, says he quit drugs and alcohol in 2019.
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