Hunter Biden earned more than $4 million from a Ukrainian energy company, a Chinese private equity firm and other sources during two years in which he descended deeper into substance abuse, according to his proposed plea agreement to federal tax charges.
Biden’s draft plea was announced in June, but the actual agreement was only made public on Wednesday after US District Judge Maryellen Noreika ordered it unsealed in response to media requests. The deal, which would see the president’s son plead guilty to misdemeanor charges and serve no jail time, was put on hold after Noreika raised questions about the terms last week.
An exhibit incorporated into the agreement between Biden and federal prosecutors in Delaware sets out in some detail his earnings in 2017 and 2018, two years for which he failed to pay income tax. Republicans, who have criticized the proposed plea as a sweetheart deal, have seized upon the millions Hunter Biden made to argue that his father must also have benefited.
A lawyer for Biden didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
In 2017, Biden made more than $2.3 million, with $1 million coming from a company he formed with the chief executive officer of a Chinese conglomerate, $664,000 from a Chinese infrastructure investment firm, $500,000 from a Ukrainian energy company, $70,000 from a Romanian business, $48,000 from an international law firm and $666,000 from domestic business interests.
The sources of his income weren’t identified in the court filing, but Biden has acknowledged ties to Chinese company CEFC China Energy, Ukrainian energy company Burisma and the law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner.
Biden made more than $2.1 million in 2018. According to the agreement, these high earnings came as his drug addiction continued to worsen. The documents cites Biden’s own memoir in which he describes “a spring and summer of nonstop debauchery” in 2018.
According to the agreement, Biden was well aware of his tax liabilities from an accountant he hired. The accountant prepared Biden’s returns and sent them to him for review and signature. Despite repeated encouragement by his accountant, Biden never signed or submitted his returns.
According to the agreement, Biden failed to pay his taxes despite having the money to do so. By May 2019, he had spent money he could have used for that purpose “on personal expenses, including large cash withdrawals, payments to or on behalf of his children, credit card balances, and car payments for his Porsche.”
In October 2021, the court filing notes that Biden’s tax liabilities for 2017 and 2018, which were $955,800 and $956,632 respectively, were paid for by an unidentified third party. That individual also paid $45,661 and $197,372 to resolve outstanding tax issues from 2016 and 2019, according to the filing.
That New York Times earlier this year reported that Hollywood entertainment lawyer Kevin Morris lent more than $2 million to Biden to help resolve his tax issues.
Biden’s proposed plea deal also covers a weapons charge stemming from his possession of a handgun in 2018 despite knowing he was addicted to illegal drugs.
(Updates with additional background. A previous version of this story corrected the years in the second deck headline)