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When is the sentencing for Hunter Biden’s federal tax case? What is the maximum sentence he could receive?
Hunter Biden has pled guilty on federal charges that could lead to prison time, after already having been found guilty on a gun-related charge in June.
Hunter Biden will plead guilty to federal charges related to his failure to pay taxes between 2016 and 2019. During the hearing, the judge asked Biden if he had committed all the crimes in the indictment, and he responded, “Yes.” The charges listed in the indictment include six misdemeanor charges of failure to pay, a felony tax evasion charge, and two felony charges of filing false returns. Allowing the trial to take place was considered a high risk politically, considering that members of the Biden family would need to testify the week before the election. Though President Biden is no longer on the ballot, the spectacle could have negative repercussions for Democrats at the top of the ticket and down the ballot.
During this period, Hunter Biden was struggling with addiction issues, and he failed to pay $1.4 million in taxes. Investigators found that while he wasn’t paying Uncle Sam, he was spending lavishly on luxury goods, escorts, and drugs.
This news comes after he was found guilty in a Deleware court on gun charges earlier this year. The sentencing for that trial will take place on Wednesday, November 13. Now that Biden has opted to skip a trial in the tax evasion case, he will face another sentencing hearing on Monday, December 16. Both judges overseeing Hunter Biden’s cases were appointed by Donald Trump.
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Could Hunter Biden go to prison?
In the tax evasion case, Biden could face up to 17 years in prison and a substantial fine reaching $1.3 million.
The guilty verdict in the gun charges also carries the possibility of even greater jail time, though most analysts do not believe he will receive the maximum sentence, which is 25 years.
As he is a first-time offender, he is expected to receive a lighter sentence than the maximum. Though there would be a window for President Biden to pardon his son before leaving office, such possibilities are highly unlikely and would carry a high political price for the Democrats, who often accuse Donald Trump of placing himself above the law.