A federal judge rejected Hunter Biden's bid to dismiss several charges for tax-related crimes in an 82-page ruling released Monday, clearing the way for the president's son to face court proceedings during the contentious 2024 election cycle.
U.S. District Judge Mark C. Scarsi, appointed by then-President Trump, appeared skeptical of allegations of egregious government misconduct and retaliatory prosecution made by Biden's legal team during a hearing in downtown Los Angeles last week. In his ruling Monday night, he rejected all eight of Biden's attempts to dismiss the case.
Biden, 54, was indicted on nine tax-related crimes in December, including allegations that he failed to pay taxes on time on more than $7 million in income from 2016 to 2019 and filed false returns. In 2018, prosecutors alleged that Biden misclassified several personal expenses as work-related, including $30,000 for his daughter's education and $11,500 for an escort, according to the indictment.
Biden paid off his debt, with penalties and interest, in 2021. But a deal to resolve some of those tax-related and gun crime offenses in Delaware collapsed last year after a judge raised questions about the nature of the agreement.
Last week, Biden's legal team said intense political pressure from Trump and Republicans who damaged President Biden's re-election bid led to the deal's collapse. That paved the way for a grand jury to be convened in California by Special Counsel David Weiss, the US Attorney for Delaware who first began investigating the younger Biden in 2019.
Led by Abe Lowell, the president's son's lawyers argued that the case should be dismissed for a wide range of reasons, arguing that Weiss' appointment was illegal, that the case was brought only because of outside political pressure, and that two members of the Interior and Revenue Services agents at the center of the investigation violated Biden's rights by Public disclosure of some of his tax records. Lowell also said Biden's plea deal last year was binding and gave him immunity.
Scarsi ignored Lowell's arguments for immunity, stating that the agreement was not valid because it was not signed by a federal probation officer in Delaware. Regarding the arguments related to Trump and Republican pressure, Scarsi said that Biden “presented his proposal without any evidence.”
“The motion is remarkable because it fails to include a single declaration, document, or request for judicial notice,” the judge wrote. “Instead, the defendant cites portions of various Internet news sources, social media posts, and legal blogs. But these citations are not evidence.
Prosecutors also said last week that Biden's argument was a “conspiracy theory” that ignores an obvious fact: that Trump is no longer president, and that Biden's father oversees the Justice Department that is now prosecuting him.
“We strongly disagree with the court’s decision and will continue to vigorously pursue Mr. Biden’s appeals of the extraordinary manner in which the Special Counsel handled this investigation and charging in this case,” Lowell said in a statement Monday night.
Lowell also argued that IRS agents Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler trampled on Biden's due process rights by giving rounds of news interviews about the case and releasing confidential tax documents to the public. But Scarsi said Lowell failed to draw a line between their conduct and the charges against them in Los Angeles.
“The defendant does not accuse Shapley and Ziegler of misconduct in the process of building the case against him or of any active cooperation between them and the prosecution; “Instead, it is presumed that their public disclosure of information about the investigation may have influenced the special counsel’s decision to pursue tax charges,” Scarsi wrote. “Defendant presents no facts to suggest that the information Shapley and Ziegler publicly shared had any adverse effect on the grand jury’s decision to return an indictment.”
Biden is tentatively scheduled to stand trial on June 20, which could add to the list of court dates that violate the 2024 election cycle. Trump faces four separate trials in multiple jurisdictions for allegedly falsifying business records, failing to return classified documents to the White House, and attempting to interfere with In the 2020 election results he repeatedly claimed to be fraudulent, without providing evidence.
It remains unclear whether any of these cases will reach the jury before voters cast their ballots later this year.
Times staff writer Matt Hamilton contributed to this report.
