Hunter Biden pleads GUILTY to all NINE felony charges after shock reversal in tax evasion trial

Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to nine tax evasion charges, including three felonies, after finally agreeing to admit to the crimes at his federal trial in Los Angeles. 

The tax cheat First Son's lawyers had attempted to sidestep the admission earlier on Thursday by entering an 'Alford plea', which would have allowed Hunter to plea guilty while still maintaining his innocence. 

But after a fiery exchange between prosecutors and the defense, Hunter's attorneys have since abandoned their technical arguments and instead agreed to have the president's son make a standard guilty plea. 

Judge Mark Scarsi told Hunter he could face up to 15 years in prison and $1million in fines once convicted of the three felonies and six misdemeanors, which include lying on his tax returns and deliberately not paying the IRS. 

Defense attorney Abbe Lowell claimed the government was trying to 'exact more than a pound of flesh but also a drop of blood'.

Prosecutor Leo Wise said the suggestion was 'offensive', that 'he's the one that triggered these effects', and that regarding Hunter's tax crimes, 'the truth matters', asking that it be made clear Hunter was agreeing he did commit all the crimes he is charged with.

After dropping the 'Alford plea' attempt, Judge Mark Scarsi had Wise read out the indictment to put all of the allegations against Hunter on the record.

The indictment includes details of Hunter's shady overseas deals with Romanian businessman Gabriel Popoviciu who has been convicted of bribery, and with Chinese oil giant CEFC, which has been linked to a Chinese government influence operation.

It also described how Hunter paid prostitutes and drug dealers, and spent on a lavish life, rather than paying his taxes.

He also lied in order to deduct some of those illicit expenses as business costs on his tax returns, which is a felony.

The judge asked Hunter whether he understood the charges, and whether he was aware of the consequences of pleading guilty. Hunter said he did.

Among the standard questions Hunter was asked by the judge: 'Did anybody make any promises to you to get you to plead guilty?'

Hunter replied: 'No'.

The answer would appear to mean Hunter is denying that he was made a promise by his father President Joe Biden, that he would be pardoned if he pleads guilty instead of fighting a trial.

Wise was keen to make sure that by pleading guilty, Hunter agreed he was guilty of each of the elements in the indictment, without any wiggle room.

'It should be crystal clear what the factual basis is,' Wise said. 'The defendant should have to make clear what he agrees and disagrees with.'

Judge Scarsi said that after conviction, the probation and pretrial services group would meet with the defense and put together a sentencing report with a recommendation of what punishment Hunter should receive for his crimes.

Scarsi added that the report was only 'advisory', and that 'the court can sentence you anywhere up to the maximum penalty' of up to 15 years and an estimated fine of between $500,000 and $1million.

When asked if he understood, Hunter said: 'I do'.

When agreeing to have Hunter enter a standard guilty plea, Lowell said that Hunter didn't want to cause any more difficulty for his family.

'Your honor has basically indicated that there's a need to address the public interest,' Lowell said. 'But Mr. Biden also has to address the private interest.

'This has been a difficult time for him and his family,' he added. 'Enough is enough.'

Hunter, 54, was due to face his second criminal trial this year, with jury selection for the tax evasion trial set to begin on Thursday. 

But the case was thrown off course after the defense revealed he would be changing his plea to guilty in a stunning last-minute reversal in court this morning.  

Attorney Abbe Lowell announced the move in front of the judge, while 120 potential jurors waited next door to be selected for the criminal trial.

The shocking U-turn was an apparent Hail Mary strategy by the defense to try to stop damaging and embarrassing evidence being presented to the jury. 

Lowell cited legal cases and precedents suggesting that by pleading guilty, the judge would have to decide on the facts of the case rather than a jury, and the judge could only use material that has already been filed in the case. 

He told Judge Scarsi that Hunter would be taking an 'Alford plea', meaning he would accept a guilty verdict while maintaining his innocence.

Lowell also told the judge that they had previously never accepted a plea deal, because the only offer the government made was to plead guilty to all charges - suggesting that Hunter was planning to plead guilty to only some of his charges.

Judge Scarsi agreed to give government attorneys a three-hour recess to research and come up with a plan to respond to the shocking reversal by the defense before convening in court again at 11am. 

But federal prosecutors returned to the courtroom saying they are dead against Hunter entering a guilty plea while still maintaining his innocence.

'I want to make something crystal clear: the United States opposes an Alford plea,' DoJ attorney Leo Wise told Judge Scarsi.

'Hunter Biden is not innocent. Hunter Biden is guilty. He is not allowed special terms.'

Wise said allowing Hunter to plead guilty while maintaining his innocence would be 'an injustice' and 'contrary to the rule of law'. 

Lowell argued that under court rules, the judge has no choice but to accept Hunter's guilty plea – even though he is maintaining his innocence at the same time.

But Scarsi disagreed, telling Hunter's lawyer: 'I don't agree that the court must accept an Alford plea'.

The judge did suggest that prosecutors could file a 'proffer', which lists all the facts they would have proven at trial, then Hunter could plead guilty, without going into detail about which facts he agreed were true or not.

Lowell told the judge that all Hunter would be doing, by pleading guilty, is agreeing the prosecution has enough evidence to convince a jury of his guilt beyond reasonable doubt at trial – without agreeing to all the facts the government claims.

But Wise was unhappy with Lowell's attempt to allow Hunter to maintain his innocence.

'I don't know how he could maintain he was innocent and at the same time admit the facts in the indictment are true,' the DoJ lawyer said.

'I don't know how the defendant could say the facts about his state of mind are true and yet say he is innocent.'

Wise had asked for the evening to file a response, with the jury being brought back to court again tomorrow morning in case the defense's plea plan falls through.

Judge Scarsi said he needed to weigh up 'public interest factors' in not having a public trial,' including the need to 'seek truth in transparent proceedings' and not 'obfuscate the truth' by cutting straight to a guilty plea.

But he added that this issue could be 'mollified' by the government filing a detailed brief laying out all their evidence against the First Son.

Lowell argued that an Alford Plea, where Hunter still maintains his innocence, was normal. 

'All over the US people do this,' he said, adding that his client is merely asking to have the 'same rights as everybody'.

He asked the judge to push the plea through today. But Wise disagreed.

'It is not the case that Alford pleas go on all around the country,' he said. 'Alford pleas are rare, they occur under exceptional circumstances.' 

Lowell tried to play down the difference between a normal guilty plea and an Alford plea.

'You will tell Mr. Biden his plea is a plea of guilty, and that is what the headlines will say,' Lowell told Judge Scarsi.  'And the government will say if they went to trial this is what they will prove beyond reasonable doubt.

But he added that Hunter does not have to agree to all the facts the government allege, while still pleading guilty.

The court took a half hour break to allow Lowell to confer with Hunter, and also said that he would 'hold this over until tomorrow', bring the 120 potential jurors back at 9am, and offered to let the defense and government file further briefs to argue their respective sides.

Scarsi also stated that despite Wise's objection to Hunter's desire to maintain his innocence, the decision came down to the judge alone.

'The Court doesn't need the government's agreement to accept an Alford plea,' he said.

'There is no requirement that the defendant himself give a full account [and] accept everything in the government's proffer is true,' Lowell said.