Hunter Biden given date for initial court appearance in California on tax charges
Hunter Biden will make his initial appearance in a California federal court on nine tax-related charges on Jan. 11, 2024.
Biden will appear before Magistrate Judge Alka Sagar at 1 p.m., according to the Central District of California's court calendar. The court is located in Los Angeles. During an initial court hearing, defendants learn more about their rights and charges against them, according to the Justice Department's website.
A judge then decides whether the defendant will be released or not if they meet the requirements for bail.
"Before the judge makes the decision on whether to grant bail, they must hold a hearing to learn facts about the defendant including how long the defendant has lived in the area, if they have family nearby, prior criminal record, and if they have threatened any witnesses in the case. The judge also considers the defendant’s potential danger to the community," the DOJ states.
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Biden faces federal charges in connection with a "four-year scheme" in which he didn't pay his federal income taxes from January 2017 to October 2020 while also filing false tax reports.
The charges break down to three felonies and six misdemeanors centered around $1.4 million in owed taxes that were since paid.
Special Counsel David Weiss alleged Hunter "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, from in or about January 2017 through in or about October 15, 2020, and to evade the assessment of taxes for tax year 2018 when he filed false returns in or about February 2020."
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Weiss said Biden spent millions to fund an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills.
"[W]hen he did finally file his 2018 returns, included false business deductions in order to evade assessment of taxes to reduce the substantial tax liabilities he faced as of February 2020," Weiss alleged.
Hunter pleaded not guilty in October to federal gun charges in U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware after being charged out of Weiss' yearslong investigation.
Earlier this month, Biden's lawyer, Abbe Lowell, attacked Weiss over the charges.
"Based on the facts and the law, if Hunter’s last name was anything other than Biden, the charges in Delaware, and now California, would not have been brought," he said on Dec. 7. "First, U.S. Attorney Weiss bowed to Republican pressure to file unprecedented and unconstitutional gun charges to renege on a non-prosecution resolution. Now, after five years of investigating with no new evidence -- and two years after Hunter paid his taxes in full – the U.S. Attorney has piled on nine new charges when he had agreed just months ago to resolve this matter with a pair of misdemeanors."
Biden still faces the possibility of being held in contempt of Congress after refusing to comply with a subpoena to appear before House lawmakers to testify about his financial dealings.
Fox News Digital's Houston Keene contributed to this report.