Hunter Biden, the son of current US President Joe Biden, has pleaded guilty to federal tax charges against him.
In doing so, he changed his previous statement from January 2024, when he declared his innocence.
He pleaded guilty to all nine counts of the indictment.
He was accused of embezzling a total of 1,4 million dollars, while at the same time spending the money on narcotics, prostitution and luxury items.
In a statement after the hearing, Biden Jr. stated that he pleaded guilty in order to spare his parents unpleasant details from the part of his life in which he suffered the consequences of drug addiction.
"Given all that I put them through in previous years, I wanted to spare them," Hunter Biden said, noting that he had paid off his tax debt.
Hunter Biden's procedure, on the day of the expected start of the process, is a prerequisite for avoiding a trial during which compromising details of his life would certainly be disclosed - right before the presidential elections on November 5.
Judge Mark Scarsi said Biden Jr. had pleaded guilty - saying he had not reached a plea deal with prosecutors.
According to Judge Skarsi, the maximum prison sentence prescribed for that criminal offense is 17 years in prison, while the fine is up to $450.000.
Under common practice, defendants who plead guilty first reach a deal with prosecutors in an effort to receive a lesser prison sentence.
It seems that this was not the case in the trial against the son of the former US president.
An unusual pre-plea offer
Earlier in the day, legal representatives for Biden Jr. offered to have their client plead guilty to federal tax charges but not be convicted at the same time.
It is a specific institution of American justice (Alford plea) according to which the accused does not admit guilt, but confirms that the prosecution has sufficient solid evidence for a conviction - which represents an unusual legal maneuver that the prosecutors in that case opposed.
Legal representatives of Biden Jr. made that proposal at the moment when the selection of the jury in the trial against Hunter Biden on charges of tax evasion was about to begin.
More than a hundred of them were present in the court building, who were waiting for the selection of the jury panel to begin.
This is the first case in which the son of the current US president faces criminal charges and a trial.
He was indicted in December 2023, and the indictment came after an extensive investigation into Biden's finances and business dealings.
Convicted of illegal purchase of weapons
Biden Jr. was convicted in Delaware in June 2024 on charges of illegally purchasing a gun while a drug user.
He filed an appeal against that verdict.
In the event that the appeal is rejected, and he is convicted on the charge of tax evasion, the son of the American president would be threatened with a harsher punishment, because he would have already been convicted of one criminal offense.
Hunter Biden, who has spoken about his struggle with drug and alcohol addiction, has been accused of failing to pay taxes from 2016 to 2019.
At the same time, he spent considerable sums of money on narcotics, escorts, luxury hotels, real estate, expensive cars and clothes, the indictment states.
It was also expected that details of his ties to Burism, a Ukrainian industrial conglomerate - while his father Joe Biden served as US vice president - could be disclosed during the trial.
Republicans mark his activities as high corruption, while Hunter Biden denies that he violated the law during his business.
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