WASHINGTON — Hunter Biden on Thursday pleaded guilty to nine federal tax charges in Los Angeles after telling his legal team that he refused to subject his family to another round of anguish and humiliation after a gut-wrenching gun trial in Delaware three months ago.
The dramatic development signaled the final stages of a fraught investigation of more than five years into the period when Biden bankrolled his uncontrollable drug and alcohol addiction by leveraging his last name into lucrative overseas consulting contracts — and not paying taxes.
This was a plea without a deal, a unilateral decision by defense lawyers persuaded they could not prevail in the trial — and not part of a settlement that included a reduced punishment.
Biden, 54, speaking in a low and clipped voice as he sat at the defense table, repeated the word “guilty” nine times as Judge Mark Scarsi ticked off each charge.
Biden will remain free on bond until his sentencing hearing in mid-December.
The plea now exposes President Joe Biden’s son to a likely outcome that seemed unthinkable last year, when his lawyers were on the cusp of a no-prison plea agreement: significant time behind bars. He now faces a maximum prison sentence of up to 17 years or a fine of up to $1.3 million, on top of the possible sentence of 25 years after being convicted of lying on a firearms application in Delaware in June.
It does not appear, at least for now, that he is banking on a parental executive reprieve. As Biden’s team appeared in court, listening while every word of his 56-page criminal indictment was read back to him, the White House press secretary told reporters on Air Force One, “It’s still very much a no,” when asked if the president planned to pardon his son.
“I went to trial in Delaware not realizing the anguish it would cause my family, and I will not put them through it again,” Hunter Biden said in a statement in which he accused prosecutors of “dehumanizing” him.
“There was only one path left for me,” he added. “I will not subject my family to more pain, more invasions of privacy and needless embarrassment. For all I have put them through over the years, I can spare them this, and so I have decided to plead guilty.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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