Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, took responsibility for tax dodging charges in a California court, avoiding a second criminal trial.
Biden pleaded guilty on Thursday to the nine tax-related charges, three felonies and six misdemeanors, brought by special counsel David Weiss after prosecutors and Trump-appointed Judge Mark Scarsi fought back on an Alford plea, which would have allowed Biden to avoid admitting guilt for charges while accepting a guilty verdict.
“Mr. Biden is prepared to proceed today and finish this,” Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell said Thursday afternoon in court, per ABC News.
Per the 56-page indictment, Biden evaded taxes and submitted false information in a 2018 filing, amounting to a $1.4 million sum in unpaid taxes between 2016 and 2020, which he paid back along with penalties — information the jury wouldn’t have been allowed to hear.
Biden had already agreed to plea guilty to misdemeanor tax charges before Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika torpedoed the deal last year.
Prosecutor Leo Wise reportedly called the Alford plea evidence that Biden sought special treatment, while others have argued that his prosecution itself is evidence that Biden is being held to a higher standard than private citizens.
A juror in a Delaware case, in which Biden was found guilty of gun ownership charges related to his drug use — also conducted by special counsel Weiss — called the prosecution “a waste of taxpayer dollars,” with another juror adding that the case appeared to be “as much to embarrass as it was to convict.”