4 Striking Details From New Hunter Biden Indictment

The 56-page indictment of Hunter Biden on new tax evasion charges has seriously deepened the legal troubles of the president's son.

Hunter Biden was already facing a separate set of federal criminal gun charges in Delaware, where Special Counsel David Weiss is a Trump-era U.S. Attorney retained into the Biden administration.

The new nine-count indictment filed in a California federal court Thursday alleges Hunter Biden stopped paying his outstanding and overdue taxes in 2018, and accuses him of willfully failing to pay his 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 taxes on time, despite having access to money to pay some or all of his tax bill.

Here are some of the most striking details about what the indictment contains — and what it does not:

The charges are far more serious than Biden's now-scuttled plea deal

The charges in Thursday's indictment are far more serious than those in the possible plea deal Hunter Biden appeared to be prepared to agree to in the summer.

He had initially pleaded guilty in June to two counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax while avoiding prosecution for a single firearms charge if he met certain pre-trial conditions.

The two original tax charges alleged that Biden "received taxable income in excess of $1,500,000 annually in calendar years 2017 and 2018. Despite owing in excess of $100,000 in federal income taxes each year, he did not pay the income tax due for either year."

The plea deal involving those charges fell apart under questioning by U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika at a dramatic hearing in July.

Now Biden is facing nine counts that encompass a much wider timeframe, and allege a broader tax evasion scheme.

Thursday's indictment accuses Hunter Biden of "a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4 in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 to 2019."

If convicted of all the tax charges, Hunter Biden would face a maximum penalty of 17 years in prison. Actual sentences, however, are typically not that lengthy when the federal judge assigned the case takes into account U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other legal factors, according to the Department of Justice.

President Joe Biden is not mentioned

The unveiling of the indictment on Thursday came as House Republicans, under the leadership of Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., moved closer to authorizing an official impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.

Unproven allegations of links between Hunter Biden's business activities and the president have been central to the GOP-led investigations.

However, while the indictment is rife with details about Hunter Biden's personal life and finances, it does not mention President Biden.

Hunter Biden's attorney Abbe Lowell, insisted in a statement Thursday that his client's legal situation would be different if his father were not the president.

"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," Lowell said.

'Extravagant lifestyle' detailed

The phrase "extravagant lifestyle" appears eight times in the indictment, which discusses Hunter Biden's spending habits in detail.

The indictment details alleged spending that included $3,852 for the "rental of a Lamborghini that he drove when he first moved to California in April 2018 until his Porsche was shipped from the East Coast."

A personal friend, the indictment alleges, provided Hunter Biden with "substantial financial support, including approximately $200,000 to rent a lavish house on a canal in Venice, California." In addition to his residences, Biden booked stays at "luxury hotels in Atlantic City, New York City and Los Angeles."

Between 2016 and October 2020, prosecutors allege, Hunter Biden "spent money on drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and other items of a personal nature; in short, everything but his taxes," the indictment notes.

Personal troubles discussed

Much of Hunter Biden's alleged activities detailed in the indictment coincide with periods during which the president's son has publicly acknowledged he struggled with drug addiction.

A table in the indictment listing alleged expenditures includes $71,869 on "Rehab (Drug & Alcohol) from 2016 to 2018.

The indictment also alleges that Biden spent $683,212 in payments to "various women," and $188,440 on adult entertainment from 2016 to 2019 .

Prosecutors allege that Hunter Biden falsely indicated to an accounting firm, CA Accountants that some of his spending was for business expenses when it was not.

"Unbeknownst to the CA Accountants, in his memoir, the Defendant described 2018 as being dominated by crack cocaine use 'twenty-four hours a day, smoking every fifteen minutes, seven days a week,'" the indictment states.

"In fact, the Defendant never told the CA Accountants about his extensive drug and alcohol abuse in 2018, which might have prompted greater scrutiny of his claims of hundreds of thousands of dollars in business expenses," according to the indictment.