Hunter Biden offers to change plea to avoid a trial in tax case

Hunter Biden is attempting to resolve his federal tax evasion case in California with a plea where he maintains his innocence but will accept punishment, his lawyers announced in court Thursday, moments before jury selection was scheduled to begin.

Hunter Biden is attempting to resolve his federal tax evasion case in California with a plea where he maintains his innocence but will accept punishment, his lawyers announced in court Thursday, moments before jury selection was scheduled to begin. The arrangement won’t be final until District Judge Mark Scarsi, a Trump appointee who has presided over the tax case, gives his stamp of approval in open court. This type of arrangement, called an “Alford plea,” would see Biden acknowledge that special counsel David Weiss has enough evidence to convict him – and then he would accept whatever sentence Scarsi eventually hands down. The potential resolution of the tax case comes on the brink of a trial in downtown Los Angeles. This would have been Biden’s second criminal trial this year, after he was convicted in June on three federal gun charges in Wilmington, Delaware. Biden was charged with nine tax crimes, including three felony charges. Prosecutors allege that Biden failed to pay $1.4 million in federal taxes and evaded taxes by filing tax returns with fraudulent business deductions. They also allege that Biden was using his money on luxury cars, extravagant hotels and sex workers, instead of paying taxes when they were due. The president’s son eventually paid roughly $2 million in back taxes and penalties after learning of the investigation and getting sober, following a years-long struggle with drug addiction and alcoholism. In the weeks before the trial, the judge blocked Biden’s lawyers from telling jurors about the belated tax payment, or about the potential origins of his addiction – dealing a major blow to his defense strategy.