Hunter Biden under federal tax investigation
WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, said Wednesday that he is facing a federal investigation into his taxes, putting a renewed spotlight on the questions about his financial dealings that dogged his father’s campaign.
Federal investigators served a round of subpoenas on Tuesday, including to Hunter Biden, according to a person familiar with the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing probe. The tax investigation centers on his business dealings, the person said.
The Justice Department’s investigation, centering on potential tax fraud crimes, had been going on at least a year before Joe Biden announced his candidacy, according to another person familiar with the matter. Investigators did not reach out in the weeks before because of a Justice Department policy surrounding elections that prohibits overt investigative acts.
In a statement released by the president-elect’s transition office, Hunter Biden said he learned about the investigation Tuesday but did not disclose specifics about what was being scrutinized.
“I take this matter very seriously but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisers,” he said in a statement.
President Donald Trump and his allies have accused him of profiting off his political connections. Trump and his supporters also raised allegations of corruption related to Hunter Biden’s work in Ukraine at the time his father was vice president and leading the Obama administration’s dealings with the Eastern European nation.
The disclosure of the federal investigation, led by the U.S. attorney’s office in Delaware, comes as the incoming president is assembling his Cabinet. His pick for attorney general could have oversight of the investigation into the new president’s son if it is still ongoing when Biden is sworn in Jan. 20.
The transition team said in a statement: “President-elect Biden is deeply proud of his son, who has fought through difficult challenges, including the vicious personal attacks of recent months, only to emerge stronger.”
Biden’s younger son has been caught up in controversies before. While his father was vice president, Hunter joined the Naval Reserve only to be discharged after testing positive for cocaine in his system, later revealing a yearslong struggle with addiction.
He also joined the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma in 2014, sparking concerns about the perceptions of a conflict of interest given the elder Biden was deeply involved in U.S. policy toward Ukraine. A Republican-led Senate investigation did not identify any policies that were directly affected by Hunter Biden’s work.
Before the election, Trump’s presidential campaign sought to highlight claims by a man named Tony Bobulinski who said Hunter Biden recruited him to help run an investment firm to be called “Sinohawk Holdings,” backed by a Chinese energy company, and that he personally discussed the plans with the former vice president during an hourlong meeting in 2017, after Biden left public office. But Bobulinski — whom Trump invited to the second and final presidential debate — said the venture was never funded.
But the Senate report indicated that deals with the Chinese energy conglomerate CEFC China Energy did separately come to fruition. That included substantial payments from CEFC to a holding company that issued Hunter Biden a credit card and subsequently transferred millions of dollars to his law firm.
In an interview earlier this year with the New Yorker, Hunter Biden acknowledged receiving a 2.8-carat diamond from CEFC founder Ye Jianming, but said he gave the stone to other associates.
The move by the U.S. attorney’s office to disclose the investigation reveals that Hunter Biden is their target and that the inquiry has progressed to the point that investigators needed to contact his lawyers.