The legal saga of Hunter Biden, the son of the American president, resumes from Thursday in Los Angeles, with the start of his trial for tax fraud, a new case that is a source of embarrassment for Joe Biden.
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Hunter Biden, 54, faces one count of tax evasion and two counts of filing false statements for failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes over the past decade.
Joe Biden’s youngest son was already convicted this year of lying about his drug addiction when buying a gun — a felony in the Biden home state of Delaware. His sentence has not yet been handed down.
During the hearings at this trial, Hunter Biden’s luxurious lifestyle, his failing marriage, and his cocaine addiction had already been publicly exposed.
Shameful details that a Los Angeles jury should now hear in turn.
“They want to taint it because that’s the whole point,” Hunter Biden’s attorney, Mark Geragos, said at a hearing in August.
To justify the failure to pay taxes, the defense claims negligence during a chaotic period for Hunter Biden due to the deterioration of his addiction and the death of his brother Beau from a brain tumor.
Hunter Biden, who says he has been drug-free since 2019, has already paid back taxes and fines to authorities and had previously reached a plea deal that would have spared him jail time.
But that deal fell apart at the last minute, and according to the American press, the president’s son has since been trying to conclude a new one.
This former lawyer and businessman, now a painter, has become over the years a favorite target of Republicans who seek to portray the Democratic president as the head of a corrupt family.
However, Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the November presidential race at the end of July in favour of Kamala Harris has caused the intensity of opposition attacks to drop.
Hunter Biden faces up to 17 years in prison in his trial in Los Angeles, which begins Thursday with jury selection. The first arguments are expected Monday.
