AFP – Hunter Biden was indicted late on Thursday on multiple counts of tax evasion, the second time this year United States (US) President Joe Biden’s troubled son has been charged by a special counsel investigating his personal and business dealings.
Hunter Biden “engaged in a four-year scheme to not pay at least USD1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019,” special counsel David Weiss said in the 56-page indictment filed in US district court in California.
Biden was charged with nine counts of failing to file and pay taxes, tax evasion and filing false tax returns, the indictment shows.
The new charges serve up more acute embarrassment for Joe Biden as he wages an uphill battle for reelection and fends off a Republican bid to impeach him on grounds that he benefitted from his son’s overseas business dealings.
The previous charges accuse the younger Biden of lying about his drug use on a federal application when he purchased a gun.
The new charges mean that Hunter Biden could in theory go on trial twice next year as his father almost certainly faces Donald Trump in the race for the presidency.
President Biden has insisted he stands by his son despite his past troubled behaviour.
