{"id":4586,"date":"2024-09-05T20:16:23","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T03:16:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=4586"},"modified":"2024-09-05T20:16:47","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T03:16:47","slug":"hunter-biden-pleads-guilty-in-tax-case-hours-after-jury-selection-for-trial-was-to-begin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=4586","title":{"rendered":"Hunter Biden pleads guilty in tax case, hours after jury selection for trial was to begin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n



Hunter Biden<\/a>\u00a0pleaded guilty to all nine counts in his criminal\u00a0tax case<\/a>\u00a0in Los Angeles federal court on Thursday afternoon, hours after jury selection was due to begin for a trial of the\u00a0son<\/a>\u00a0of President\u00a0Joe Biden<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Biden\u2019s sentencing was scheduled for Dec. 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden faces a maximum possible sentence of 17 years in prison but is likely to receive a less severe punishment than that due to federal sentencing guidelines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plea came after prosecutors strongly opposed Biden\u2019s surprise offer earlier in the day to enter a special plea \u2014 known as an Alford plea<\/a> \u2014 that would allow him to maintain that he believed he was innocent but concede that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him at trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the Alford plea had been accepted by U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi, Biden would have been convicted of the charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plea that Biden ended up making to Scarsi is an \u201copen plea,\u201d or one done without a plea deal with prosecutors, which might have included a reduction in the number of criminal counts he faced and an agreement on the likely terms of his sentencing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden, 54, was charged in the case with three felony counts and six misdemeanors related to failing to pay at least $1.4 million in federal taxes between 2016 and 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was accused of deducting money that he paid to sex workers on his taxes as a business expense and of spending \u201cmillions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills,\u201d according to an indictment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Weiss, the Department of Justice special counsel appointed to investigate Biden, said, \u201cNot now,\u201d when asked if he had a comment on the guilty plea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weiss\u2019 prosecution team in June obtained a conviction of Biden in Delaware federal court on three felony counts related to his purchase of a handgun in 2018 while being a user of crack cocaine. He is awaiting sentencing in that case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden, who left court with his wife Melissa Cohen, did not speak to reporters after he pleaded guilty, but issued a written statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI went to trial in Delaware not realizing the anguish it would cause my family, and I will not put them through it again,\u201d Biden said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen it became clear to me that the same prosecutors were focused not on justice but on dehumanizing me for my actions during my addiction, there was only one path left for me,\u201d he said. \u201d I will not subject my family to more pain, more invasions of privacy and needless embarrassment.  For all I have put them through over the years, I can spare them this, and so I have decided to plead guilty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLike millions of Americans, I failed to file and pay my taxes on time.  For that I am responsible,\u201d Biden said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs I have stated, addiction is not an excuse, but it is an explanation for some of my failures at issue in this case,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I was addicted, I wasn\u2019t thinking about my taxes, I was thinking about surviving.  But the jury would never have heard that or know that I had paid every penny of my back taxes including penalties.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His attorney, Abbe Lowell, outside of the courthouse said, \u201cHunter put his family first today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lowell said that the \u201cplea prevents that kind of show trial\u201d for Biden, which would have likely included evidence about his abuse of drugs, use of sex workers and lavish lifestyle during the time he was not paying his taxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe will now move on to [the] sentencing phase, while keeping open the many key issues with this case on appeal,\u201d Lowell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis case was an extreme and unusual one for the government to bring,\u201d said Lowell, who had been critical of the Department of Justice\u2019s decision to charge Biden after a plea deal to resolve the tax case and a firearms-related case in Delaware collapsed last summer after a judge raised questions about its conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHunter actually overpaid his taxes in the years he\u2019s charged with tax evasion,\u201d said the attorney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier, inside the courtroom, Lowell had told Scarsi, \u201cMr. Biden will agree that the elements of each offense have been satisfied,\u201d after returning from a recess following arguments over the proposed Alford plea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Scarsi asked special counsel Leo Wise, the prosecutor, if that was sufficient, Wise said he would prefer that Biden admit his actions as alleged in an indictment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWill Mr. Biden agree that that is the truth? Because the truth matters,\u201d Wise said. \u201cHe should have to say that the facts are true!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lowell then argued that was not required under the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe just has to agree to the elements,\u201d Lowell said. \u201cI know Mr. Wise would like Mr. Biden to say, \u2018and in addition, I was a really bad person when I did this,\u2019 but that\u2019s not what the law requires.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scarsi said, \u201cSo we\u2019re going to take an open plea from Mr. Biden. And I will ask if you committed conduct that satisfies element in the indictment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wise then began reading the 56-page indictment out loud in court. That reading took almost 90 minutes to complete.

Reprinted from \u201cCNBC\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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