Hunter Biden's criminal tax trial begins with jury selection in California

Jury selection in Hunter Biden’s criminal tax trial stemming from special counsel David Weiss’ yearslong investigation into the first son begins Thursday in California. 

United States District Court for the Central District of California Judge Mark Scarsi is presiding over the trial. 

Biden’s tax trial was set to begin in June, but his attorneys requested it be delayed to September, and Scarsi approved that request.

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Hunter Biden and his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, leave the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building on June 7, 2024 in Wilmington, Delaware. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Weiss charged Hunter Biden with three felonies and six misdemeanors concerning $1.4 million in owed taxes that have since been paid. Weiss alleged a "four-year scheme" when the president’s son did not pay his federal income taxes while also filing false tax reports. 

Biden pleaded not guilty. 

In the indictment, Weiss alleged that Biden "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."

Weiss said that, in "furtherance of that scheme," Biden "subverted the payroll and tax withholding process of his own company, Owasco, PC by withdrawing millions" from the company "outside of the payroll and tax withholding process that it was designed to perform."

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The special counsel alleged that Biden "spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills," and that in 2018, he "stopped paying his outstanding and overdue taxes for tax year 2015."

Special counsel David Weiss charged Hunter Biden with three felonies and six misdemeanors concerning $1.4 million in owed taxes that have since been paid. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Weiss alleged that Biden "willfully failed to pay his 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 taxes on time, despite having access to funds to pay some or all of these taxes," and that he "willfully failed to file his 2017 and 2018 tax returns on time."

This is the second time Biden is on trial this year stemming from charges out of Weiss' investigation. 

Biden was found guilty on all counts in Delaware after Weiss charged him with making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm; making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a licensed firearm dealer; and one count of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance. 

Hunter Biden looks on during the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago on Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (Getty Images)

A date has not yet been set for sentencing for those charges. With all counts combined, the total maximum prison time for the charges could be up to 25 years. Each count carries a maximum fine of $250,000 and three years of supervised release. 

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President Biden has vowed not to pardon his son. 

Jury selection in California is expected to take place Thursday and Friday. Weiss and Biden's defense attorneys are expected to deliver their opening arguments the following Monday.