Hunter Biden offers to plead guilty to federal tax charges without the deal his lawyer proposed

By CNN

Published September 5, 2024 9:20 AM

CNN

By Paula Reid, Marshall Cohen, Evan Perez and Casey Gannon, CNN

Los Angeles (CNN) — Hunter Biden is offering to plead guilty to the nine tax offenses he faces in federal court, without a deal with prosecutors, his attorneys said in court Thursday.

Biden had earlier attempted to resolve his federal tax evasion case in California with a plea in which he would maintain his innocence but still accept punishment.

The arrangement wouldn’t have become final until District Judge Mark Scarsi, a Trump appointee who has presided over the tax case, gave his stamp of approval in open court. He said Thursday that he would make that decision at a later date. This type of arrangement, called an “Alford plea,” would have seen Biden acknowledge that special counsel David Weiss has enough evidence to convict him – and then he would accept whatever sentence Scarsi eventually hands down.

But in a surprising turn Thursday afternoon, Biden’s team changed course and instead said Biden is prepared to admit that his conduct satisfied the elements of the tax offenses with which he had been charged.

Biden said under oath in federal court in Los Angeles Thursday that nobody made any promises to him, to convince him to plead guilty in his tax case. The president’s son also testified that nobody pressured him to plead guilty in any way.

Prosecutors said they want Scarsi to specifically ask Biden if he admits that all of the allegations in the indictment are true.

“There has to be a factual basis for the court to take the plea. It should be crystal clear … The defendant should be made to indicate whether he agrees or disagrees with any of the facts put forward,” prosecutor Leo Wise told the judge.

Prosecutors from Weiss’ team had said they would object to an Alford plea. Wise told the judge that comments from Biden attorney Abbe Lowell in court earlier in the day were the first time he learned about a potential plea change.

“I want to make something crystal clear – the United States oppose an Alford plea,” Wise said.

“Hunter Biden is not innocent. Hunter Biden is guilty. He is not permitted to plead guilty on special terms,’ Wise added.

Lowell had earlier “there has not been an agreement” between the parties – like a plea agreement – in which Biden would plead guilty to some charges in exchange for other charges being dropped. The only offer that Hunter’s team ever got from prosecutors, Lowell said, was for him to plead guilty to all nine counts.

The potential resolution of the tax case came 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.

During the brief hearing, Scarsi noted that there were around 120 prospective jurors waiting inside the courthouse, because the jury selection process was scheduled to begin Thursday morning.

Scarsi indicated that if he doesn’t accept Biden’s attempt to promptly resolve the case that the trial will move forward with jury selection on Friday as planned.

Lowell blasted prosecutors for accusing Biden of seeking special treatment.

“I know it makes a headline,” but “it’s so wrong,” Lowell said.

He added, “Alford exists. The Supreme Court said it exists,” and “all over the United States, people do this.”

Biden’s wife Melissa Cohen was not allowed in the courtroom early in the hearing, drawing a complaint from Lowell. Nobody except the parties and their attorneys were let inside because all of the extra space in the courtroom pews were going to be used for potential jurors during jury selection, the judge said. She was allowed in the courtroom during the second part of the hearing.

Sitting with Biden’s family and allies was Kevin Morris, an attorney and longtime friend to the president’s son. It was Morris who provided the roughly $2 million for Biden to settle his federal tax debts in 2021 – the unpaid taxes that are at the heart of this criminal case.

The convoluted and drawn-out plea proceedings Thursday in Los Angeles were reminiscent of a similar hearing last summer in Delaware, where the parties attempted to get a judge’s approval for a joint plea agreement. That agreement stunningly unraveled in open court, with the parties disagreeing on its terms, and the judge eventually withholding her support over constitutional concerns.

”I’ve been through one of these plea hearings before,” Wise quipped, drawing a laugh from the judge as they all tried to figure out the way forward with Biden’s attempted Alford plea.

“Deja vu,” Scarsi replied.

Biden’s former business parter Tony Bobulinski attended the hearing, sitting with the public and press in the courtroom. A sharp critic of the Biden family, he testified in the House Republicans impeachment inquiry. His accusations that Joe Biden was intimately involved in Biden’s lucrative foreign business deals, have not been proven.

Lowell’s involvement was notable. He was the lead defense attorney for his client’s Delaware gun case, but he was absent from a key pretrial hearing two weeks ago in the California tax case. Instead, celebrity attorney Mark Geragos, who was retained earlier this summer, took the lead at that hearing.

President Joe Biden has continually said that he will not pardon his son in either of his cases. It is not clear if the president’s thinking has changed since dropping his reelection bid, but he still has the ability to pardon his son or commute his sentence.

In July, Biden added Los Angeles attorney Mark Geragos to his legal team. Lowell, who handled Biden’s gun case in Delaware, was expected to take a back seat for his tax case with Geragos as the lead attorney. CNN previously reported that there were plea discussions earlier this summer that did not lead to a deal at that time.

This headline and story has been updated with additional reporting.

CNN’s Emma Tucker contributed to this report.