According to sources familiar with the investigation, the FBI months ago accumulated what agents thought was enough proof to accuse Hunter Biden, the president's son, of tax crimes and making a false statement while buying a gun.
The US Attorney's office in Delaware received evidence obtained by FBI and IRS investigators, the sources claim. A representative for the US Attorney in Delaware declined to comment.
FBI Sees Indictable Tax Case Against Hunter Biden
Federal prosecutors received evidence of alleged crimes from the agency, according to a report published first by The Washington Post. According to a source close to Hunter Biden, the FBI's anger with the length of time it is taking the prosecution to consider this case is what motivated the leak, according to Biden's team.
The Biden campaign staff thinks the bureau is putting pressure on prosecutors to take action. Republicans in Congress have been putting more and more pressure on the FBI over claims that it is making choices based on political factors.
Since at least 2019, Hunter Biden has been the subject of an investigation by the Delaware US attorney's office. Hunter Biden's bank records going back to 2014, when Joe Biden was vice president, were the subject of a federal demand from that year.
Sources with knowledge of the situation claim that investigators have looked into whether Hunter Biden owes taxes on income from a contentious period serving on the board of directors for the Ukrainian oil company Burisma during his father's vice presidency.
High-profile Hollywood lawyer Kevin Morris, who sources claim settled Hunter Biden's past-due tax problems, gave Biden financial support in May. A subpoena issued in December 2020 asked for records regarding Hunter Biden's income, assets, debts, commitments and financial transactions and any personal and business expenses dating back as far as January 2017.
Prosecutors looking into Hunter Biden also subpoenaed information from a paternity litigation that included his tax data, according to paperwork and an attorney engaged in the case. As part of the subpoena, all federal, state, municipal and international tax documentation pertaining to Hunter Biden was also requested.
Hunter Biden's Case Led by US Atty. David Weiss
US attorney David Weiss, who was chosen by then-President Donald Trump in 2018, is in charge of the inquiry of Hunter Biden's financial situation. At the time, he had been serving as acting director of the Delaware office, and both Democratic US Senators Tom Carper and Chris Coons gave him their support.
Numerous federal prosecutors hired by Trump were requested to resign in February 2021, shortly after Biden took office, but Monty Wilkinson, the acting attorney general at the time, urged Weiss to stay on the job, a Justice Department official said CBS News.
There is no information to contradict Joe Biden's claim that he was not involved in his son's business transactions, as per CBS News. Emails linked to the laptop also reveal a variety of commercial ventures in China and other countries. Along with doing business in Kazakhstan and other far-flung places, he also obtained a lucrative board post with a Ukrainian energy company.
The gun case falls under the category of cases that prosecutors occasionally charge and occasionally ignore. However, according to DOJ statistics cited by the Post, 298 of the 478 referrals for falsifying guns documents in the year of Hunter Biden's purchase resulted in charges.
According to Rebecca Roiphe, Joseph Solomon Distinguished Professor of Law at New York Law School, charges for lying on a federal form are uncommon but come with a $250,000. 10 years in prison is the maximum penalty, along with a fine.
Despite the president's assertions that he ever spoke with Hunter Biden about his international business transactions, a 2018 voicemail from Hunter Biden's iPhone seems to show Joe Biden contacting his son to discuss a New York Times piece about his work with CEFC, Daily Mail reported.
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