President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden faces a new set of federal criminal charges according to court documents made public on Thursday. The documents lay out at least nine new federal tax charges coming out of a special counsel investigation examining the business dealings of a son of a U.S. president.
In the documents filed on Thursday, witness statements and evidence from a California grand jury in October allege that while Biden was serving on the boards of a Ukrainian industrial conglomerate and a Chinese private equity fund, he was paid millions of dollars. The documents say Hunter Biden was working for a multinational law firm in an "of counsel" capacity between 2009 and "at least" 2017. The documents lay out charges stemming from those business dealings that include at least three felonies and six misdemeanors.
The documents allege the president's son evaded self-assessed taxes owed for the 2018 tax year, and allegations say he "filed false returns" around February 2020.
The filing also alleges that Hunter Biden "willfully failed to pay his 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 taxes on time, despite having access to funds to pay some or all of these taxes."
Hunter Biden agrees to testify before House panel
President Joe Biden's son is scheduled to appear before a House panel in the coming weeks amid a Republican-led investigation.
Recently, special counsel David Weiss worked with a federal grand jury out of Los Angeles to analyze evidence and obtain witness testimony regarding possible tax-related charges in a criminal probe against the U.S. president's son.
Hunter Biden already faces other criminal charges, including those out of the state of Delaware related to the purchase of a gun. Those are federal firearms charges that say he broke laws that prohibit drug users from possessing guns.
A spokesperson for Weiss didn't immediately release a public statement regarding the matter or respond to media requests for further comment.
CNN first reported on the charges before the filing was made public on Thursday.
Attorney Abbe Lowell said in a statement, "Based on the facts and the law, if Hunter's last name was anything other than Biden, the charges in Delaware, and now California, would not have been brought."
An official from the White House counsel's office responded to a request for comment by Scripps News and asked that questions be directed to the Department of Justice or representatives for Hunter Biden.
If convicted, it is possible that Hunter Biden could face up to 17 years in prison.
