Jury selection begins for Hunter Biden tax case

Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son, accompanied by his attorney Abbe Lowell, left, talks to reporters as they leave a House Oversight Committee hearing as Republicans are taking the first step toward holding him in contempt of Congress, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

LOS ANGELES – Jury selection is scheduled to begin Thursday for Hunter Biden, who is going on trial in downtown Los Angeles on federal tax charges.

A pool of 100 potential jurors will be parsed in efforts to find a panel to decide the guilt or innocence of President Joe Biden’s son, who faces nine tax-related counts, including three felonies and six misdemeanor counts of failing to pay more than $1.4 million in taxes.

Hunter Biden, 54, of Malibu, “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills,” the indictment alleges.

Defense lawyers say they believe the case was brought “in direct response to political pressure,” according to filings in Los Angeles federal court.

Hunter Biden’s attorneys said the defendant has repaid the government $2 million in back taxes and penalties. He is charged with evading a tax assessment, failing to file and pay taxes, and filing a false or fraudulent tax return.

There are no reported indications the sides are close to a plea agreement. The trial is expected to last two weeks with opening statements anticipated Monday in the courtroom of US District Judge Mark Scarsi, an appointee of former President Donald Trump.

Evidence of the younger Biden’s partying during a period when he was admittedly using crack cocaine and allegedly willfully failing to pay more than $1.4 million in taxes may become part of the trial, federal prosecutors indicated.

Scarsi previously rejected Hunter Biden’s bid to toss the case after the defendant sought to argue that David Weiss, the special counsel overseeing the prosecution, was improperly appointed.

The US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Biden’s request to revive a bid to have the charges against him dismissed.

Regarding the tax charges, the 56-page indictment alleges that between 2016 and Oct. 15, 2020, “the defendant spent this money on drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing and other items of a personal nature, in short, everything but his taxes.”

Hunter Biden’s defense attorney, veteran Los Angeles criminal lawyer Mark Geragos, unsuccessfully petitioned the court to allow testimony that the death of the defendant’s mother and sister in a 1972 car crash and the death of his brother from cancer in 2015 caused him to ignore his tax obligations.

This is Hunter Biden’s second federal criminal case of 2024. In June, the president’s son was convicted of three felony charges in a separate case brought in Delaware stemming from his 2018 purchase of a gun.

Hunter Biden was found guilty of having lied on a mandatory gun-purchase form by saying he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs — when, in fact, he later admitted to having been addicted to illegal narcotics at the time.

Court papers show Hunter Biden is scheduled to be sentenced in the Delaware gun case on Nov. 13, in the week after the presidential election.

Described in the indictment as a Georgetown- and Yale-educated lawyer, lobbyist, consultant and businessperson, Hunter Biden served on the board of a Ukrainian industrial conglomerate and a Chinese private equity fund during the time of the tax allegations.

“He negotiated and executed contracts and agreements for business and legal services that paid millions of dollars of compensation to him and/or his domestic corporations, Owasco PC and Owasco LLC,” according to the indictment for tax evasion.

In addition to his business interests, the defendant was an employee of a multinational law firm, the document states.

Hunter Biden has said he had forgotten to pay his taxes during a period when he was in the grip of drug addiction. (CNS)

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