Hunter Biden lost a bid to have eight criminal charges against him dismissed, and a judge on Monday night allowed the tax fraud case to move forward.
Judge Mark Scarsi determined that the three felony and six misdemeanor charges of tax evasion, filing a false return and failing to pay more than $1 million in taxes between 2016 and 2019 could not be considered political as Hunter’s attorneys had argued.
Hunter’s lawyers returned to federal court in Los Angeles last week to urge the judge to consider dismissing all nine tax charges against Hunter brought by special prosecutor David Weiss.
“The motion is notable because it does not include a single declaration, exhibit or request for judicial notice,” said Scarsi, a Trump appointee. wrote. ‘Instead, the defendant cites portions from various Internet news sources, social media posts, and legal blogs. These quotes, however, are not evidence.’
Scarsi said the sources contained “multiple levels of hearsay” and did not “present a reasonable inference, much less clear evidence, of discriminatory effect and discriminatory purpose.”
The charges arise from what federal prosecutors say was a four-year scheme to avoid paying $1.4 million he owed to the IRS and instead use the money to fund an “extravagant lifestyle” that they allege by his own admission, it included drugs and alcohol.
Hunter Biden is setting up another high-profile courtroom drama on Wednesday, when his lawyers will ask a judge to dismiss charges against him for failing to pay more than $1 million in taxes.
His lawyers have launched efforts to dismiss some or all of the charges, and Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi will decide the fate of the case.
The charges cover fiscal years 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Meanwhile, Hunter Biden, 53, has also been charged in Delaware with lying in October 2018 on a federal form for gun buyers when he swore that he did not use or be addicted to illegal drugs. At the time he was addicted to crack. He is also charged with illegal possession of the weapon and has pleaded not guilty in that case.
Federal prosecutors say Hunter repeatedly failed to pay his taxes on time, missed deadlines to pay debts he owed to the IRS, and criminally evaded taxes by cooking his books and filing false returns.
The Justice Department says Hunter faces up to 17 years in prison on tax charges and 25 years on weapons charges if convicted, in dual cases that could have a devastating impact on his father’s presidential campaign.
Hunter is accused of evading taxes on income he received from China and Ukraine, providing fodder for Republicans who have accused Hunter of corruptly profiting from overseas businesses through his last name.
Hunter will return to federal court in Los Angeles where a judge will consider dismissing all nine tax charges against him brought by special prosecutor David Weiss.
For six months they have been investigating his businesses in search of a motive to impeach Joe Biden. Hunter’s lawyers have seized on this, claiming that Weiss “caved to outside pressure” from Donald Trump and House Republicans, who demanded his indictment.
“Biden is being attacked because of his political and family affiliations,” they wrote.
The indictment claims that despite receiving millions in personal income and financial support from a friend, Hunter ‘spent this money on drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing and other items of a personal nature, In short, everything except your taxes.
Hunter’s lawyers also argued that the case should be dismissed because it had been tainted by a pair of IRS agents who previously worked on the case before becoming whistleblowers and testifying in the House GOP impeachment inquiry.
“The government’s actions in this case are beyond egregious,” they wrote, accusing the whistleblowers of “vigilante justice” and “taking the law into their own hands” by leaking tax records.
The trial on the weapons charges in Delaware will begin June 3, weeks before the June 20 trial on the tax charges in California.
Last summer, a proposed plea deal sensationally collapsed after questioning from a judge.
The charges against him were to be postponed as part of a plea deal Hunter reached with prosecutors, in which he would admit to tax crimes for knowingly failing to file and pay his tax bill on millions of dollars of income.
But Judge Maryellen Noreika in July raised a controversial clause that would give him blanket immunity for other crimes.
Noreika asked both prosecutor Leo Wise and Hunter’s attorney at the time, Chris Clark, if this meant Hunter could still be charged with failing to register as a foreign agent, violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
Wise said yes. Clark said he did not agree and the deal was off.
After a recess, Hunter’s lawyers agreed that immunity would only be offered for tax, gun and drug offenses. But Noreika was still skeptical of the deal’s unusual structure. Talks about the extent of Hunter’s immunity have since collapsed.