In December 2024, a businessman named Shaun Maguire filed a lawsuit against Hunter in California. According to the complaint, Hunter had rented Shaun’s house in California from 2019 to 2020 for $300,000. However, Hunter left the house without paying the amount.
The Firearm Trial
In June 2024, several charges were pushed against Hunter Biden in the court. These included unlawful purchase and possession of a revolver (a .38-caliber Colt Cobra Special bought in 2018), lying on the federal form about not having any type of drugs in the past, and making a false statement about information required to be collected by a federally licensed gun dealer. According to his lawyers, he never used the gun and later disposed it in a garbage bin. The court also cancelled his license to work in the field of law in the capital. He was later convicted by the jurors and was bound to get a 25-year jail sentence. However, in December 2024, President Joe Biden exercised his power and granted him a full and unconditional pardon from all the lawsuits that had been filed against him since 2014. Hunter spoke about the pardon, in an interview, and said,
“I have admitted and taken responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction – mistakes that have been exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport, I will never take the clemency I have been given today for granted and will devote the life I have rebuilt to helping those who are still sick and suffering.”
Laptop Controversy
In 2020, during the Presidential elections, the New York Post published an article in which it was claimed that Hunter had sent several emails to his associates about Joe Biden’s meeting with a Burisma official named Vadym Pozharskyi. According to the article, the information of the emails was shown when Hunter’s laptop was accessed while he had given it for fixing at a store in Delaware. Later, many intelligence officials challenged the legitimacy of the article, claiming it to be an attempt of the Russian intelligence agencies to spread misinformation. The laptop also revealed receipts of rent which Hunter had paid. It was assumed that the rent money was channelled through his illegal business dealings. However, it was later revealed that the rent was for the office space in Delaware which he had acquired. In 2024, the laptop and its content were used in the court against Hunter during the “firearm trial.” Thereafter, Hunter’s lawyers filed a petition in the court seeking trial of the individuals involved in “illegally” accessing Hunter’s laptop. In the same year, Hunter was questioned regarding the matter by House Judiciary and Oversight committee. He claimed that he had not sent the laptop for repairs and that he was being framed.
Charges of Tax Violation and Money Laundering
In 2020, the Department of Justice initiated an inquiry into the tax filing of Hunter Biden. His business deals with China also came under scrutiny. Despite the charges, the FBI was unable to gather evidence against Hunter. Later, he was accused of not registering as a lobbyist with the government which went against the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Many observers claimed that Hunter had not embezzled funds from foreign sources as he was in a lot of debt (amounting in millions) and had, on occasions, taken money from his friends. In June 2023, Hunter entered a guilty plea for not paying taxes on numerous occasions. In July, he changed his plea to not guilty and decided to contest the charges. In December 2023, 9 charges related to tax felony were filed against him in California. In January 2024, Biden entered a not guilty plea in the court and the trial began in June 2024. He was later accused by the prosecutors to have lobbied on behalf of a businessman from Romania when Joe was the Vice President. The prosecutors then entered a plea to merge his FARA violation with his tax evasion charges.
Feud with Lunden Alexis Roberts
In May 2019, Lunden filed a lawsuit against Hunter in a court in Arkansas seeking child support. In it, she claimed that he was biological father of her daughter, who was born in 2018. Later, the court ordered a DNA test in which it was revealed that Hunter was the father. He later accepted the results and agreed to pay her child support and other damages. The court then ordered Lunden to change her daughter’s surname to Biden for her to enjoy the perks of being associated with the Biden family.
Feud with Kathleen Buhle
In 2015, Kathleen, his ex-wife, separated from Hunter due to his drug abuse habit. She then filed for a divorce. On 23 February 2017, she filed a motion in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia to freeze Biden’s assets. She claimed that Hunter had instructed his office to reduce her monthly support from $17,000 to $7,500. She also accused Hunter of spending lavishly on himself while not giving her and the kids any monetary support. Hunter, however, denied the allegations as false and baseless and said that he had always paid full financial support to her.
Removal From Active Duty
Hunter Biden had joined the US Navy as a reservist in May 2013. However, in just six months of duty, he was found consuming cocaine as a result of which he was discharged in February 2014.