Below is my column in the New York Post on the second indictment of Hunter Biden. The tax evasion charges were brought in a type of Voldemort indictment, skillfully detailing millions acquired from influence peddling without mentioning “he who must not be named.” Indeed, it says nothing of how or why millions were sent to Hunter.
Here is the column:
The 56-page indictment of Hunter Biden for tax evasion makes for racy reading, with the special counsel describing a four-year criminal pattern directed at maintaining Biden’s “extravagant lifestyle.”
That lifestyle included massive expenses for strippers, sex clubs, fast cars and other distractions.
The steps taken by Hunter to evade taxes are impressive, but not nearly as impressive as the efforts of the Justice Department to evade any direct implications for his father, President Biden.
In that sense, the indictment itself is a marvel of evasion.
There are three glaring omissions in the indictment that tend to shield critical payments and conduct that implicate the president.
The Burisma-Ukrainian money
First, the special counsel only indicts tax evasion that occurred in recent years.
That’s because the long “investigation” into Hunter inexplicably allowed the statute of limitations to expire on the most controversial payments starting around 2014 from Ukraine gas company Burisma.
Recent testimony from IRS whistleblowers suggests that wasn’t an accident. Investigators were stonewalled, they claimed, and the Justice Department was previously moving to reject any charges against Hunter Biden.
Exploring those earlier Ukrainian payments opens up questions about Hunter’s influence peddling and would have highlighted the conflict in his father’s extraordinary move to force the Ukrainians to fire a prosecutor investigating Burisma by holding back a billion dollars in aid for the country.
There is still no explanation why special counsel David Weiss would allow the statute of limitations to run out.
But this recent indictment keeps the focus squarely on taxes not paid, not how the money was “earned” in the first place.
Hunter the foreign agent
Also missing in the indictment is any charge against Hunter Biden as an unregistered foreign agent.
Recently, the Justice Department added a charge to the indictment of Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) that he ran afoul of FARA, the Foreign Agents Registration Act. FARA also was used to go after Donald Trump associates such as Paul Manafort.
The problem with charging Hunter with FARA is obvious.
It opens up questions about the millions of dollars going to the Biden family from foreign sources, a topic that Attorney General Merrick Garland has spent years avoiding.
In the second indictment, Weiss spends more time detailing the salacious use of this money rather than how and why it was given to the Bidens.
He just matter-of-factly describes millions flowing through these accounts from China, Romania, Ukraine, Russia and other countries.
The unindicted co-conspirator
By focusing on tax evasion alone, Weiss again avoids any direct reference to the focus of the influence-peddling used to raise these millions of dollars.
Even without mentioning the president, the implications of the indictment are devastating for the narrative and denials of Joe Biden.
The president has continued to maintain that he had no knowledge or interaction with these dealings. Those statements are clearly and knowingly false.
The president also maintained that his son has “never done anything wrong” and never accepted any money from China.
That is also untrue, according to the Justice Department and Hunter himself.
Yet Weiss continues to avoid any need to address the person who was the selling point of the influence peddling.
It was the same person who repeatedly called in to dinners and meetings, repeatedly attended events, and held meetings and photo shots for these clients.
Instead, Weiss indicts the failure to pay taxes on the proceeds of these dealings without addressing that underlying corruption.
It is akin to arresting a bank robber for speeding away from the crime scene without mentioning the reason for his flight.
In a scandal with dozens of references to the president and millions sent for influence and access, it took a steady hand for Weiss to avoid ever touching on President Biden’s role.
This was a truly Homeric feat — unseen since the Greek hero Odysseus won a competition by shooting an arrow through the tiny hole in a dozen ax heads.
It takes perfect aim to avoid any contact. It is itself the very model of evasion.
Jonathan Turley is an attorney and professor at George Washington University Law School.
…A person may be subject to civil or criminal tax fraud. But, unlike most other statutes of limitations which expire after 3-or 6-years, there is no time limit for the IRS to enforce civil fraud penalties.
It is my understanding that there is NO statute of limitations for tax fraud.
Wondering if they can inact the tolling law
I wonder if Professor Turley gets tired of writing about this. I’m get tired of reading about it because I know the DOJ is completely politicized and will continue to do the least possible damage to the Bidens. Who is going to stop them? I’m surprised the DOJ actually made these charges. 40% of this country is willing to throw out the rule of law as long as their party wins and stops Orange Jesus
Several commenters noted that Hunter’s friend finally paid the taxes for 2016-2019 before the case was filed. That’s nice but the problem is that the taxes actually due were underpaid because the returns were fraudulent, hence the criminal complaint.
Hunter intentionally deducted payments for prostitutes and air travel for them as well as his daughter’s college tuition, etc when he should have known that such expenses are not deductible on income tax returns. He mischaracterized those deductions in his submissions to his accountants, so they were likely unaware of the true nature of the deductions.
We also don’t know how much his income was under-counted because we have not yet seen the corporate tax returns for the other 20+ shell companies. It will be difficult for the IRS to track down payments because entities paying bribes or for classified documents probably don’t file 1099’s with the IRS. They might call those payments “consulting fees” or the like. Or they may pay in cash or bitcoin to try to avoid detection.
Over-stating deductions and under-counting income results in reduced taxable income and thus lower taxes due. The taxes and associated interest and penalties would still be due on the earlier returns from 2014 & 2015 if not paid but are not part of this indictment, which covers 2016-2019.
Since several family members were shuffling funds between each other, “loans” will have to be scrutinized and perhaps RICO charges should be considered. Joe’s purchases of two very expensive houses on a lower income will have to tracked down. Since Joe probably will not be charged with anything while in office, it provides incentive for him to win the 2024 election.
If you haven’t already read the indictment, check it out, especially the summary on page 13: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.907806/gov.uscourts.cacd.907806.1.0.pdf
If you still don’t see a problem here, ask your own accountant which of those expenses you could deduct on your own return.
‘
The question remains why was millions paid to Hunter by foreign entities? Only a fool or a member of the Demorat Party can accept that this was that graft of the worst sort. What services or skills did Hunter provide? His unique artistic abilities? His brilliant intellect? One wonders how Bernie Sanders managed to wind up with three mansions on a senators salary or how Liz Cheney entered the Congress with 7 million and left after 6 years with 44 million. These grifters, and I mean probably 66% of the occupantants of the Capitol could not answer how they obtained their vast wealth. How did Schumer wind up with 80 million in worth? Or Pelosi with over 200 million. One wonders what McConnel is worth. Obama is worth over 300 million. Wonder how he did that. Boy Clinton is worth 400 million-but thats due to selling US uranium reserves and nuclear secrets.
During that January 28, 2020 meeting, the Defendant was
also shown a Profit and Loss statement for Owasco, PC that included $86,000 in wages to purported employees of Owasco, PC. The Defendant knew this was a false deduction but failed to inform the CA Accountants. He knew it was false because despite being engaged in
little to no business activity, the Defendant directed Personal Assistant 2 in 2018 to place on payroll and provide health care benefits to three women with whom he had romantic or sexual relationships and a fourth woman who was related to one of those women. These payroll expenses were treated as business expenses on Owasco, PC’s Form 1120, reducing the amount of income to the
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
October 2023 Grand Jury
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff,
v.
ROBERT HUNTER BIDEN,
Defendant.
No.
I N D I C T M E N T
[26 U.S.C. § 7201: evasion of
assessment; 26 U.S.C. § 7203:
failure to file and pay taxes; 26
U.S.C. § 7206: false or fraudulent
tax return]
Can someone show me where CNN has reported this story?
FREE SPEECH
Mr. Turley, PLEASE
When litigants complain, claiming their judges are rotten, corrupt criminals and punks, no one listens. (Their judges may lock them up). If a lawyer, someone who knows the inner workings of the judiciary, calls out a judge on questionable behavior, he gets suspended or barred. These punks have immunity up the gazoo. They are thoroughly corrupt. No one watches them or holds them accountable. Congress isn’t interested, don’t have the time, or the balls to investigate them. They have free reign to make themselves and the lawyers who selected them to make hundreds of millions of bucks. HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS!
No end in sight. Professor, write on this topic, on this disaster, please, sir. You know more than most and no judge is going turn on you. Your reputation,. fairness, decency, objectivity scare every from seeking revenge.
Judges must have a list of people whose cases they cannot hear. Ted Kennedy carefully asked Alito to explain why he didn’t recuse himself from a case in which he owned stock in the defendant.
We should be privy to the people/corporations on their lists. We should be able to examine the books to see if chief district judges follow the selection process or if they place themselves and their friends in positions to preside over their pals. I know where corruption along these lines rages. It is blatant. The average lawyer Has to be ensconced in the knowledge of it.
Still a problem at the state level. Federal judges are randomly chosen when assigning cases, the way Judge-shopping was finally corrected.
It is still possible to game the federal system. Judge stopping has not been stopped – it is just a bit more difficult.
“Federal judges are randomly chosen when assigning cases…”
By whom? Oh, you mean like Arlen Specter randomly selecting Juan Sanchez to preside over Shanin Specter’s multibillion dollar lawsuits? Gee. Isn’t Juan Shanin’s choice for that position, too?
This comments section is a cess pit.
And the steaming turd you just dropped has added to the cess. Well done.
As are the comments sections of every site catering to the fringe Right.
the Leftist sites are veritable Nazi sites, with commenters declaring death to Jews, Christians, whites, babies, parents, Conservatives, grooming children, and on and on and on
Since Svelass wasn’t woman enough to answer the question, I will say it again.
The young first time homeowner today faces a monthly mortgage payment of $1927.00, which is $650 a month more than when Biden took office.
This is due to one thing only. The feds reaction to try to control Bidenflation.
Many young couples, even if they are willing to be “house poor”, cannot qualify for the higher payment, and must instead continue to rent. So they continue to waste thousands per year for rent payments that are higher than a house payment would have been under Trump. Many are also forced to set aside starting a family as they wait to have the room a house affords.
But you know, according to Svelass, its a small price to pay in order to have genital mutilation of minors and drag queen story hour.
Per the IRS Code Statute doesn’t run on tax fraud. IRS is supposedly the institution that should be auditing and charging Hunter with fraud. If he committed fraud in 2014, 2015 those years are open for assessments. Just more establishment that there is no true rule of law in America.
Joe Biden included no extra income in the 2015, 2015 tax return copies he posted on his political website in 2020. If Joe received checks from Hunter in 2015,2016 I would say; he has committed fraud and should be charged accordingly.
Just as Congress subpoenaed DT returns, Congress should do so on Biden and cross exam with emails and bank accounts they have on JB. This should be done particularly on the 2015and 2016 returns. I would allege the big checks Hunter wrote to Joe Biden for rent are simply mnoey laundering actions. That would be a portion of the Big Guy 10%.
Cheat sheet for right wing responses to factual information presented to them on this blog. Goes a lot like this: I hate you. I hate your information. You don’t understand your own information. If I hint at the scope of my fire arms collection, you should feel afraid. In addition, you’re stupid.
True
Estovir can’t decide if he’s Tom or Tom Nash.
But he is sure that you are a booger eating, c*ck sucking, deluded pedophile who would make a terrible detective.
I’ll pick only one insinuation to drill down on to prove this poster is an idiot, although i could use 3 or 4.
In the course of discrediting the hyperbolic claim of a lefty here that if the gun purchasing form were enforced wrt drug use, “half the firearm owners” would be guilty of lying on the form, i gave several examples of why that was horsesh!t. Besides the fact that a large number of gun owners
1.Did not buy there guns from a dealer and therefore never filled out that form
2. The guns have been in the family and handed down so they did not fill out that form
3. Built their gun and never filled out that form.
I emphasized the last point by NOT naming the number of guns i had that i had built, but that it was more than 2. This was to make the point that there are MILLIONS of guns out there that are not serialized, much less shown on a ATF form.
Only someone who is, what was the word you used?? Oh yea STUPID, could take that as some sort of threat or warning, or reason to be afraid.
The rest of his points are equally without merit, but i think we get the jist.
Agreed that we get the gist. Fits right in the cheat sheet, Tommy. You’re not complicated in your comments.
No, i try to keep it simple for the 3rd graders who make 3rd grader comments. Thanks for yours.
I know right? I should incorporate constant use of the words booger and kunt to step up my maturity level for sure.
You’re the only one of the 2 of us that i have seen use those words.
1. I hate you.
2. I hate your information.
3. You don’t understand your own information.
4. you should feel afraid.
5. you’re stupid.
Doesn’t 5 explain 1 thru 4?
No.
I beleive the federal form addresses drug abuse or addiction.
There is zero doubt that Hunter Biden is/was a drug addict at the time.
Drug use is something different.
I beleive now over half the country has legalized Marijuana in some form.
Excluding Marijuana the illegal use of narcotics in the US – while massive is still only a small percent of americans.
So no, there is no statiscally plausible way to conclude that 1/2 of all gun owners lied on the federal form.
As there is no way with most drugs to determine when addiction occurs versus mere use.
I see plenty of actual facts coming from those allegedly on the right.
I am hard pressed to find any factual responses from that on the left.
Most of us not on the lunatic left do NOT hate you.
We HATE your policies.
We HATE your efforts to use govenrment to FORCE the rest of us to live as you demand.
I have seen very little hinting at the use of FORCE in response to your abysmal conduct.
But it does not surprise me at all that you are AFRAID of that.
You should be.
This country was born of those using arms to defend their freedom.
If you do not wish conflict – do NOT use FORCE to get your way.
Don’t Tread on Me.
Of course you see it that way, Johnny. You’re quite deluded after all.
It’s been said that the indictments protect the president. Hunter may decline testimony using the indictments as an excuse.
But you write “the long “investigation” into Hunter inexplicably allowed the statute of limitations to expire on the most controversial payments starting around 2014 from Ukraine gas company Burisma.”
Could Congress subpoena Hunter for testimony from 2016 and before, for example? May even offer immunity to compel it, since statute of limitations are already expired for those years, he should have no legal recourse to decline testimony. They could then expose the president.
Hunter Biden can not refuse to testify.
Hunter Biden can take the 5th – ONLY where he would be testifying against himself.
He can not do so for matters where the statute of limitations has expired.
Congress can offer immunity. Frankly they SHOULD – Hunter is NOT the issue.
He is not going to jail no matter what.
Learning the truth about Joe is what matters.
As well as learning the truth about what DOJ./FBI have done to protect Hunter/Joe
Further the courts have often taken being forced to testify to congress as a grant of immunity.