Hunter Biden has agreed to plead guilty in the federal case stemming from years-long investigation into his tax affairs.
According to News report, the president’s son will plead guilty to two counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax. Hunter Biden also agreed to enter into a pretrial diversion agreement regarding a separate charge of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.
The U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware David C. Weiss said, according to the tax Information, Hunter Biden “received taxable income in excess of $1,500,000 annually in calendar years 2017 and 2018.”
“Despite owing in excess of $100,000 in federal income taxes each year, he did not pay the income tax due for either year,” Weiss’ office said Tuesday.
“According to the firearm Information, from on or about October 12, 2018 through October 23, 2018, Hunter Biden possessed a firearm despite knowing he was an unlawful user of and addicted to a controlled substance.”
Weiss’ office said if convicted, Hunter Biden faces a maximum penalty of 12 months in prison on each of the tax charges– a total of 2 years– and a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on the firearm charge.
“A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors,” Weiss’ office said.
“The investigation is ongoing,” the office said in a statement Tuesday.
Biden has been under federal investigation since 2018. That investigation into his “tax affairs” began amid the discovery of suspicious activity reports (SARs) regarding funds from “China and other foreign nations.”
Fox News first reported in 2020 that the FBI had subpoenaed a laptop and hard drive purportedly belonging to Hunter Biden in connection with a money-laundering investigation in late 2019.
In December 2020, weeks after the 2020 presidential election, Biden publicly acknowledged he was under investigation related to his taxes. At the time, Biden said he took the matter “very seriously” and was “confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisors.”
The firearms charge stemmed from allegations that Hunter Biden lied during a gun purchase in 2018.
Fox News first reported in 2021 that police had responded to an incident in 2018, when a gun owned by Hunter Biden was thrown into a trash can outside a market in Delaware.
A source with knowledge of the Oct. 23, 2018, police report told Fox News that it indicated that Hallie Biden, the widow of President Biden’s late son, Beau, and who was in a relationship with Hunter at the time, threw a gun owned by Hunter in a dumpster behind a market near a school.
A firearm transaction report indicated that Hunter Biden purchased a gun earlier that month.
On the firearm transaction report, Hunter Biden answered in the negative when asked if he was “an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?”
Hunter Biden was discharged from the Navy in 2014 after testing positive for cocaine.
The White House reacted to the charges Tuesday morning.
“The President and First Lady love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life,” White House spokesperson Ian Sams said in a statement. “We will have no further comment.”
With Fox News report
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