(Headline USA) Hunter Biden’s “sugar brother,” Kevin Morris, reportedly told his associates that he can no longer cover the first son’s legal expenses.
The development comes as Hunter Biden is set to face two trials starting next month.
“The reason Kevin got involved financially in the first place was that he could see that no one was going to help Hunter,” a person close to Morris, who is a Hollywood entertainment lawyer, told Politico.
“Now, four and a half years later, there’s still no help—and now Kevin is completely tapped out,” the source added. “So just when Hunter is facing two criminal trials starting in a few weeks, he has no resources. It’s pretty dire.”
Morris has loaned Hunter Biden more than $6.5 million for legal expenses since late 2019, when the two met at a political fundraiser. However, the total amount Morris has spent on Hunter could be much higher than that.
Morris claimed during his congressional testimony in January that he did not need to divulge just how much he’s fronted the first son because of attorney–client privilege.
The source close to Morris acknowledged that cutting off Hunter would be a “huge problem” for the embattled first son, admitting he’s not sure how Hunter will pay expert witnesses in his defense. According to Politico, defense witnesses in a federal case can bill $500 per hour or more for their work rebutting the government’s prosecutors.
Hunter’s legal team also seemed to acknowledge these financial constraints in a filing on Tuesday, when Hunter’s attorney Abbe Lowell asked the judge presiding over the case regarding Hunter’s illegal purchase of a firearm if the trial could be pushed back.
The trial is set to start on June 3, but Lowell claimed defense “resources” were too strained to start then.
The judge, however, refused to move the trial start date.
Hunter has benefitted from a number of profitable business ventures, both before and during his father’s presidency, raising questions for many as to whether he was capitalizing on his own talent or on the political access and influence that accompanied his business relationships.
Most recently, Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali, a Los Angeles megadonor who purchased at least one of Hunter Biden’s paintings from the Georges Bergès Gallery at a rate of up to $500,000 each was able to leverage that investment first for a plum appointment to the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad and later for special treatment in hostage negotiations after her great-niece was one of those kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.
While Biden has largely forgotten about some of the American hostages left behind to rot in Gaza, Abigail Mor Idan, 4, was free within two months of the attack, the first American to be exchanged.
“The president raised Abigail in nearly all of his phone calls with counterparts as well as with the Amir of Qatar,” an official said at the time of her release.
Morris also was one of the major patrons of Hunter Biden’s artistic endeavors. Despite claiming that the buyers were anonymous, Hunter reportedly was aware of his sugar-brother’s purchase, with the winning bid topping $875,000.
"Hunter Biden's New York City art dealer testified Tuesday that the president's son knew his "sugar brother" lawyer was the top buyer of his paintings, contradicting the White House's previously cited ethics plan to conceal his patrons' identities."https://t.co/xeXNsBfXG1
— House Republicans (@HouseGOP) January 11, 2024
Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.
