Jury selection in the criminal tax trial of Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, commenced Thursday in a Los Angeles courtroom, Fox News reports.
The trial, stemming from a multi-year investigation by Special Counsel David Weiss, centers on allegations of tax evasion and fraud.
Judge Mark Scarsi of the United States District Court for the Central District of California is presiding over the case. The trial was originally scheduled for June but was postponed to September at the request of Biden’s legal team.
Weiss has charged Hunter Biden with three felonies and six misdemeanors related to $1.4 million in unpaid federal taxes, which have since been settled. The charges allege a “four-year scheme” where Biden failed to pay his taxes while also filing false tax reports.
The indictment claims that Biden “engaged in a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019…and to evade the assessment of taxes for tax year 2018 when he filed false returns.”
Prosecutors further allege that Biden “subverted the payroll and tax withholding process of his own company, Owasco, PC,” by withdrawing millions of dollars without proper tax deductions. They argue that he used these funds for a lavish lifestyle instead of paying his tax obligations.
Biden has maintained his innocence and pleaded not guilty to all charges.
This is the second trial for Hunter Biden this year, following his conviction on all counts in Delaware related to a separate charge of making false statements while purchasing a firearm. He faces potential sentencing for those charges, which could result in a combined maximum sentence of up to 25 years across all cases.
