Current:Home > StocksHunter Biden’s lawyers, prosecutors headed back to court ahead of his trial on federal tax charges-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
Hunter Biden’s lawyers, prosecutors headed back to court ahead of his trial on federal tax charges
View Date:2024-12-23 20:45:50
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Weeks before Hunter Biden is set to stand trial on federal tax charges, the legal team for President Joe Biden’s son and prosecutors will appear in a California courtroom Wednesday as the judge weighs what evidence can be presented to the jury.
Hunter Biden is accused of a scheme to avoid paying at least $1.4 million in taxes in the case headed for trial in September in Los Angeles. It’s the second criminal trial in just months for the president’s son, who was convicted in June of three felony charges in a separate federal case over the purchase of a gun in 2018.
Prosecutors and the defense have been fighting for weeks in court papers over what evidence and testimony jurors should be allowed to hear. Among the topics at issue is evidence related to Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, which have been at the center of Republican investigations into the Democratic president’s family.
Prosecutors say they will introduce evidence of Hunter Biden’s business dealings with a Chinese energy conglomerate, as well as money he made for serving on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma. Prosecutors say the evidence will show Hunter Biden “performed almost no work in exchange for the millions of dollars he received from these entities.”
Special counsel David Weiss’ team also plans to tell jurors about Hunter Biden’s work for a Romanian businessman, who prosecutors say sought to “influence U.S. government policy” while Joe Biden was vice president.
Prosecutors want to call as a witness a Hunter Biden business associate to testify about the arrangement with the Romanian businessman, Gabriel Popoviciu, who was seeking help from U.S. government agencies to end a criminal investigation he was facing in his home country, according to prosecutors.
Hunter Biden and his business associate were concerned their “lobbying work might cause political ramifications” for Joe Biden, so the arrangement was structured in a way that “concealed the true nature of the work” for Popoviciu, prosecutors allege. Prosecutors say Hunter and two business associates split more than $3 million from Popoviciu.
The defense has said evidence about his foreign business dealings is irrelevant to the tax charges and would only confuse jurors. They have accused prosecutors of inappropriately trying to insert “extraneous, politically-charged matters” into the trial.
Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers have indicated they will argue he didn’t act “willfully,” or with the intention to break the law. Pointing to Hunter Biden’s well-documented addiction struggles during those years, they’ve argued his drug and alcohol abuse impacted “his decision-making and judgment, such that Mr. Biden was unable to form the requisite intent to commit the crimes he has been charged with.”
Prosecutors have said that while avoiding his taxes, Hunter Biden was living an “extravagant lifestyle,” spending money on things like drugs, escorts, exotic cars and luxury hotels. The defense is urging the judge to keep those salacious allegations out of the trial.
“The Special Counsel may wish to introduce such evidence for the very reason that it is salacious and would pique the interest of the jury, but for the same reasons and because such evidence would distract the jury from the crimes charged, such information would also be highly prejudicial to Mr. Biden,” defense lawyers wrote in court papers.
Hunter Biden was supposed to plead guilty last year to misdemeanor tax offenses in a deal with prosecutors that would have allowed him to avoid prosecution in the gun case if he stayed out of trouble. But the plea deal fell apart after a Delaware federal judge raised concerns about it, and he was subsequently indicted in the two cases.
___
Richer reported from Washington.
veryGood! (8)
Related
- Vermont man is fit to stand trial over shooting of 3 Palestinian college students
- Here’s How You Can Get $120 Worth of Olaplex Hair Products for Just $47
- How Queen Elizabeth’s Corgis Are Still Living Like Royalty
- In the Philippines, Largest Polluters Face Investigation for Climate Damage
- Record-setting dry conditions threaten more US wildfires, drinking water supplies
- Priyanka Chopra Shares the One Thing She Never Wants to Miss in Daughter Malti’s Daily Routine
- See the Royal Family Unite on the Buckingham Palace Balcony After King Charles III's Coronation
- Ten States Aim for Offshore Wind Boom in Alliance with Interior Department
- Charles Hanover: Caution, Bitcoin May Be Entering a Downward Trend!
- How to show your friends you love them, according to a friendship expert
Ranking
- Man is 'not dead anymore' after long battle with IRS, which mistakenly labeled him deceased
- Ukraine's counteroffensive against Russia appears to be in opening phases
- Virginia graduation shooting that killed teen, stepdad fueled by ongoing dispute, police say
- Astrud Gilberto, The Girl from Ipanema singer who helped popularize bossa nova, dead at 83
- Wicked's Ethan Slater Shares How Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo Set the Tone on Set
- How King Charles III's Coronation Differs From His Mom Queen Elizabeth II's
- Many children are regularly exposed to gun violence. Here's how to help them heal
- How King Charles III's Coronation Differs From His Mom Queen Elizabeth II's
Recommendation
-
Quincy Jones laid to rest at private family funeral in Los Angeles
-
Ten States Aim for Offshore Wind Boom in Alliance with Interior Department
-
Andrew Parker Bowles Supports Ex-wife Queen Camilla at Her and King Charles III's Coronation
-
Some hospitals rake in high profits while their patients are loaded with medical debt
-
He failed as a service dog. But that didn't stop him from joining the police force
-
Ten States Aim for Offshore Wind Boom in Alliance with Interior Department
-
COVID Risk May Be Falling, But It's Still Claiming Hundreds Of Lives A Day
-
Ag’s Climate Challenge: Grow 50% More Food Without More Land or Emissions