An attorney for Hunter Biden said the president’s son would plead guilty on Thursday morning just moments before prospective jurors were to be summoned into the Los Angeles courtroom where his federal trial on tax charges was scheduled to begin.
Hunter Biden offered to resolve his criminal tax trial through what’s known as an Alford plea, in which he would plead guilty to the nine charges but maintain his innocence to the underlying conduct that formed the basis for those charges, multiple sources told ABC News.
The term “Alford plea” was not uttered in court but defense attorney Abbe Lowell described an Alford plea while a prosecutor said the special counsel would not accept a plea in which Hunter does not accept guilt. According to sources, the defense spelled out Hunter Biden’s proposed terms behind closed doors while the court is in recess.
An Alford plea is rare and usually invoked when defendants concede they cannot win at trial but maintain they’re innocent. If accepted, it would require Hunter Biden to say he is guilty of the charges but the judge would not require him to allocate as to why he is guilty
The president’s son arrived at the courthouse Thursday morning shortly before jury selection was set to begin. When U.S. Judge Mark Scarsi entered court into session, Abbe Lowell, an attorney for Biden announced his intention to change his plea and said there was no need to move forward with jury selection.
“There is no reason to proceed with Jury selection,” Lowell said. “Mr. Biden intends to change his plea this morning.”
Prosecutors appeared to be taken aback by the sudden change, telling Judge Scarsi they would not accept anything other than a guilty plea.
“This is the first we have heard of this,” prosecutor Leo Wise said.
The exact terms of Hunter Biden’s proposed plea remain unclear. Lowell said that the “law is very clear” about why the court would need to accept the plea and that he could share the appropriate case law with prosecutors during the recess.
“I think this can be resolved today,” Lowell said. “It doesn’t take days to do it.”
District Judge Mark Scarsi did not take a position on the plea and quickly called for a recess until 11 a.m. PT, urging the parties to confer over the break.
Special Counsel David Weiss watched this morning’s proceedings from the overflow room, quickly exiting once the change of plea was announced.
Prosecutors alleged that Hunter Biden had engaged in a four-year scheme to avoid paying $1.4 million in taxes while spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on exotic cars, clothing, escorts, drugs, and luxury hotels. He had originally pleaded not guilty to a nine-count indictment that includes six misdemeanor charges of failure to pay, plus a felony tax evasion charge and two felony charges of filing false returns.
All back taxes and penalties were eventually paid in full by a third party, identified by ABC News as Hunter Biden confidant Kevin Morris.
Thursday’s court appearance comes three months after Hunter Biden was convicted by a Delaware jury on three felony charges related to his purchase of a firearm in 2018 while allegedly addicted to drugs. His sentencing in that case is scheduled for Nov. 13.
What did prosecutors allege?
In their 56-page indictment, prosecutors alleged that Hunter Biden willfully avoided paying taxes by subverting his company’s own payroll system, that he failed to pay his taxes on time despite having the money to do so, and that he included false information in his 2018 tax returns.
Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden departs the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building on June 03, 2024 in Wilmington, Del.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images, FILE
“[T]he 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,” the indictment alleged.
Prosecutors also highlighted millions of dollars that Hunter Biden received from overseas business in Ukraine, China, and Romania in exchange for “almost no work.”
Although Hunter Biden eventually paid back all his back taxes and penalties with the help of a third party, Judge Scarsi blocked defense attorneys from introducing that information to the jury.
“Evidence of late payment here is irrelevant to Mr. Biden’s state of mind at the time he allegedly committed the charged crimes,” Scarsi wrote in an order last week.
Last June, Hunter Biden agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor offenses, acknowledging that he failed to pay taxes on income he received in 2017 and 2018. The deal also allowed him to enter into a pretrial diversion agreement to avoid criminal charges related to his 2018 firearm purchase.
Had the deal worked out, Hunter Biden would have likely faced probation for the tax offenses and had his gun charge dropped if he adhered to the terms of his diversion agreement.
However, the plea deal fell apart during a contentious hearing before U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, who took issue with the structure of the deal.
By September, special counsel David Weiss had unsealed an indictment in Delaware charging Hunter Biden for lying on a federal form when he purchased a firearm in 2018.
The federal indictment in Los Angeles for the tax crimes followed in December.