Hunter Biden pleads guilty in federal tax case

In a stunning development, Hunter Biden, 54, has pleaded guilty to federal tax charges that carry up to 17 years behind bars.

Thursday's surprise decision to make a guilty plea at a Los Angeles court to misdemeanour and felony charges — without the benefits of a deal — came hours after jury selection was supposed to begin in the case accusing him of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes.

"Enough is enough," defence attorney Abbe Lowell told the judge before Hunter Biden entered his plea.

"Mr. Biden is prepared, because of the public and private interest, to proceed today and finish this."

Hunter Biden quickly responded "guilty" as the judge read out each of the nine counts. The charges carry up to 17 years in jail, but federal sentencing guidelines are likely to call for a much shorter sentence. Sentencing is set for Dec. 16.

US President Joe Biden's only surviving son was already facing potential prison time after his June conviction on felony gun charges in a trial that aired unflattering and salacious details about his struggles with a crack cocaine addiction.

The tax trial was expected to showcase more potentially lurid evidence as well as details about Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, which Republicans have seized on to try to paint the Biden family as corrupt.

Although President Biden's decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race muted the potential political implications of the tax case, the trial was expected to carry a heavy emotional toll for the president in the final months of his five-decade political career.

'Character assassination'

More than 100 potential jurors had been brought to the courthouse in Los Angeles to begin the process of picking the panel to hear the case alleging a four-year scheme to avoid paying taxes while spending wildly on things like strippers, luxury hotels and exotic cars.

Prosecutors were caught off guard when Hunter Biden's lawyer told the judge on Thursday morning that Hunter wanted to enter what's known as an Alford plea, under which a defendant maintains their innocence but acknowledges prosecutors have enough evidence to secure a conviction.

Prosecutors said they objected to such a plea, telling the judge that Hunter Biden "is not entitled to plead guilty on special terms that apply only to him."

"Hunter Biden is not innocent. Hunter Biden is guilty," prosecutor Leo Wise said.

Hunter Biden walked into the courtroom holding hands with his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, and flanked by Secret Service agents. Initially, he pleaded not guilty to the charges related to his 2016 through 2019 taxes and his attorneys had indicated they would argue he didn't act "willfully," or with the intention to break the law, in part because of his well-documented struggles with alcohol and drug addiction.

Hunter Biden had agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax offenses last year in a deal with the Justice Department that would allow him to avoid prosecution in the gun case if he stayed out of trouble. But the agreement imploded after a judge questioned unusual aspects of it, and he was subsequently indicted in the two cases.

His decision to change his plea on Thursday came after the judge issued some unfavourable pre-trial rulings for the defense, including rejecting a proposed defense expert lined up to testify about addiction.

The judge barred attorneys from connecting his substance abuse struggles to the 2015 death of his brother Beau Biden from cancer or the car accident that killed his mother and sister when he was a toddler.

Hunter Biden's attorneys had asked Judge Mark C. Scarsi to also limit prosecutors from highlighting details of his expenses that they say amount to a "character assassination," including payments made to strippers or adult websites. The judge has said in court papers that he will maintain "strict control" over the presentation of potentially salacious evidence.

Prosecutors had said they want to introduce evidence about Hunter Biden’s overseas dealings, which have been at the center of Republican investigations into the Biden family often seeking — without evidence— to tie the president to an alleged influence peddling scheme.

Sentencing in Hunter Biden's Delaware conviction is set for November 13. He could face up to 25 years in prison in that case, though he is likely to get far less time or avoid prison entirely.