(Headline USA) In his final report on his years-long investigation into Hunter Biden, special counsel David Weiss blasted the embattled first son for deliberately using his family’s “last name and connections” to make millions of dollars in foreign business deals.
“Mr. Biden made … money by using his last name and connections to secure lucrative business opportunities, such as a board seat at a Ukrainian industrial conglomerate, Burisma Holdings Limited, and a joint venture with individuals associated with a Chinese energy conglomerate. He negotiated and executed contracts and agreements that paid him millions of dollars for limited work,” Weiss wrote in the report.
Hunter Biden then failed to properly pay federal taxes on that income, Weiss said.
“As a well-educated lawyer and businessman, Mr. Biden consciously and willfully chose not to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes over a four-year period. From 2016 to 2020, Mr. Biden received more than $7 million in total gross income, including approximately $1.5 million in 2016, $2.3 million in 2017, $2.1 million in 2018, $1 million in 2019 and $188,000 from January through October 15, 2020,” he wrote.
Hunter Biden was convicted of tax fraud last year, but received a sweeping pardon from his father, President Joe Biden, that exonerates him from being held criminally liable for the tax crimes, in addition to any alleged crimes Hunter Biden committed over a 10-year-period.
In a statement announcing the pardon, Joe Biden claimed he was issuing the pardon because Hunter Biden was late paying his taxes “because of serious addictions,” and that his son has since paid the taxes he owed.
In the report, however, Weiss argued Hunter Biden’s tax evasion was not the result of drug addiction, but was a deliberate decision by Hunter Biden to accommodate his lavish lifestyle.
Hunter Biden “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills,” and “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,” Weiss argued.
“These are not ‘inconsequential’ or ‘technical’ tax code violations,” Weiss continued. “Nor can Mr. Biden’s conduct be explained away by his drug use. Most glaringly, Mr. Biden filed his false 2018 return, in which he deliberately underreported his income to lower his tax liability, in February 2020, approximately eight months after he had regained his sobriety.”
