On September 5, 2024, Hunter Biden appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom over charges of federal tax evasion. The younger Biden is alleged to have conspired over a period of four years not to pay $1.4 million in taxes, and finds himself charged with nine counts: three felonies including tax evasion and filing a false return.

 

Hunter Biden submitted an Alford plea Thursday to avoid trial. 

 

An Alford plea is when a defendant admits that the prosecution has enough evidence to get them convicted while not admitting guilt. But federal prosecutors led by special counsel David Weiss vehemently opposed the plea deal. Prosecution voiced an argument against the plea in court, leaving it up to judge to decide whether or not pleas are acceptable.

 

The judge declared a recess for several hours to weigh his options, CNN reported. The trial was scheduled to get underway with jury selection that day.

 

 

In June, Hunter Biden was also convicted on three felony counts of lying on a firearms purchase form and illegal possession for owning the gun despite his addiction to drugs. After two days of jury deliberations, the conviction could mean up to 25 years in prison and fines as high as $750,000.

 

Alford pleas are rarely accepted by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) because its guidelines, which bind all federal prosecutors in virtually every criminal case not involving a minor traffic offense, prohibit them except under “the most unusual of circumstances,” and then they must be approved up to senior officials as high as an Assistant Attorney General or even the Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Matters who reports directly to both the person serving as United States Attorneys after being appointed to lead each such department throughout America.

 

Prosecutors had lined up more than three dozen witnesses to testify against Hunter Biden, according to The Washington Post, several alleged that they would provide “humiliating and erotic testimonies.” 

 

The indictment against him charges that he used his funds on “drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and high-end watches.