Hunter Biden Indictment:Knee Jerk Reactions

I am posting a copy of the indictment against Hunter Biden filed in the Central District of California for income tax evasion. It is long and I have not read it in detail. I should also add that I am not a lawyer, but a retired DEA agent (who, incidentally, worked often with the US Attorney's Office in that district, which is based in Los Angeles).

As has been faithfully pointed out by the talking heads in the mainstream media, Joe Biden does not appear in the indictment, which his supporters are using to make their case that the President had no involvement in his son's business dealings (notwithstanding that, there is plenty of evidence suggesting that he did.) 

 One question that needs to be asked is why there are no charges pertaining to violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), given the fact that much of Hunter Biden's income has come from foreign business entities, and there are indications of foreign government involvement in those entities, the Chinese Energy Company, for example. My personal opinion is that this would bring the case much closer to President Biden and his actions on behalf of Hunter in regard to Burisma and China.

In this vein, I do note that there are references to Burisma of Ukraine and the China Energy Company, from which Hunter Biden allegedly derived millions in income that was not reported. The indictment states that Hunter was initially receiving $1,000,000 a year from Burisma, which was later reduced to $500,000 a year. That's a lot of strippers and escorts.

When it comes to income tax evasion, it is legitimate to examine the sources of that income, The income could be legal but not reported, or it could be derived from illegal sources, in which case, it will almost definitely not be reported. According to the indictment, investigators have documented much of his expenditures, which are elements of evidence, but in this case, the sources of the income though they may or may not be legal, do raise serious questions since Joe Biden was vice president during much of that time. The indictment makes clear that the investigators have uncovered a massive amount of income to Hunter Biden from a variety of sources.

Keep in mind that Hunter Biden is only being prosecuted for tax years 2016-2019 due to the Statute of Limitations. Federal prosecutors have been criticized for allowing the Statute (for previous years) to expire without charges since they cover key points in time as to Burisma and China and when his father was vice president. However, I do note that there are references in the indictment, not only to Burisma and China but also references to actions going back as far as 2009. Even if you cannot charge crimes beyond the Statute of Limitations, there is nothing that says that you can't use evidence that dates beyond the Statute to prove charges that are still prosecutable. 

Those are just my immediate reactions and some lawyer may come along and correct me on some legal point or another. But I tend to agree with critics who suspect that these charges were brought simply because of the plea deal fiasco in Delaware and the testimony of IRS and FBI agents to the effect that Hunter Biden was given special treatment and that this indictment is designed to show the public that Hunter Biden is not being treated differently than any other citizen.

It will be interesting to see how this case goes through the federal court in Los Angeles. Will there be a trial, and if so, how will it affect President Biden? What might come out in such a trial? Will there be an eventual plea deal in which Hunter pleads guilty to some lesser charge without incriminating his father and spends a couple of years in some cushy federal prison like Lampoc (California)? I'm betting on the latter, but if it happens that way, the prosecutors are going to have a hard time explaining why this case was handled simply as a case of income tax evasion on the part of Hunter Biden without delving into the larger question of whether he and his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, were parties to bribery and influence peddling.