HUNTER PONIED UP $1M
Bid to settle tax rap
Hunter Biden paid off a tax liability of more than $1 million one year after he announced he was under investigation for defrauding the IRS — but he could still face charges in the wideranging federal probe, a new report said.
The up-to-date tax bill could make it harder for prosecutors to convict President Biden’s 52-year-old son, however, and hinder their ability to win a lengthy sentence if they obtained a conviction, according to The New York Times.
Hunter has been under investigation for failing to pay taxes since his father was vice president, but the inquiry broadened in 2018 to look into how his international business dealings intersected with his father’s political career.
The probe was reportedly kept under wraps by prosecutors as the elder Biden ran for high office.
In 2019, the feds issued a grand jury subpoena to examine Hunter’s bank transactions with the Bank of China, his uncle and former business partners.
A year later, a subpoena was issued seeking documents related to his expenses while he served on the board of a Ukraine energy company during the Obama administration.
The role came while thenVice President Joe Biden was helping with the White House’s foreign policy in Ukraine, and was heavily criticized by political adversaries as he ran for president. It was unclear if Hunter’s work at the company was being scrutinized by the feds, or if his finances were.
In October 2020, The Post exclusively revealed that a hard drive holding the contents of Hunter’s laptop computer contained a trove of e-mails that detailed how the president’s son used his political leverage in his overseas business dealings.
Hunter has denied any accusations of impropriety. He took out a loan in 2021 to settle his significant tax bill, according to the Times.
Tax prosecutors would typically argue that paying an overdue balance would not affect a fraud case because the crime would be evading taxes in the first place. However, a judge and jury would be likely to show compassion for someone who paid their bill, the Times story noted.