The son of US President-elect Joe Biden, Hunter, announced Wednesday, December 9, that he had learned the day before that he was the target of a federal investigation in the state of Delaware into his tax situation. The investigation into Hunter Biden’s trade relations was on hold due to Department of Justice directives banning actions that could affect an election. Now that the elections are over, the investigation is entering a new phase.
“I take this very seriously, but I am confident that a professional and objective review will show that I have managed my affairs in a legal and proper manner, including with the help of professional tax advisers.”, he commented in a statement.
“President-elect Biden is extremely proud of his son, who has had to face terrible challenges, including vile personal attacks in recent months, to finally emerge strengthened.”, Joe Biden’s transition team said in the same statement.
According to CNN, investigators looked at several financial issues, including whether Hunter Biden and his associates broke tax and money laundering laws while doing business in foreign countries, primarily China, according to two people. informed of the investigation.
“Ukrainian case”
Outgoing President Donald Trump during the presidential campaign called the Biden family“Criminal enterprise”, pointing in particular to the affairs of Hunter Biden in Ukraine and China when his father was vice-president of Barack Obama (2009-2017). He accuses Joe Biden in particular of having obtained the dismissal of a Ukrainian prosecutor to protect from prosecution for corruption against a gas company, Burisma, of which his son was then sitting on the board of directors.
This “Ukrainian case” won Donald Trump historic impeachment proceedings after being accused by the Democratic opposition of abusing his presidential office by pressuring Ukraine to investigate his political rival and his son’s business activities .
The Republican billionaire, finally acquitted in his impeachment trial, returned to the charge after the publication in October of an article in the New York Post supposed to contain evidence of an intervention by Joe Biden on behalf of his son. The conservative tabloid claimed to have obtained a copy of a laptop hard drive that Hunter Biden allegedly left at a Delaware repair store and never recovered. The store owner allegedly turned the computer over to the FBI after copying its contents.
In one of the retrieved emails, dated 2015, a member of the management of the Burisma company would thank Hunter Biden for his “Invitation to Washington” and “This opportunity to meet (his) father”, then vice-president.
Donald Trump, during the last debate between the two men before the presidential election of November 3, attacked his Democratic opponent head on on the subject, accusing him of having authorized his son to cash access to him. “I have never taken a dime from any foreign source in all my life”, was then defended Joe Biden, who has generally lent few cases in recent months to a “Smear campaign”, according to him.
Aged 50, Hunter Biden has long struggled with alcohol and drug addictions. Lawyer and lobbyist, he launched into finance in the 2000s with mixed success and ventured into China and Ukraine, a country riddled with corruption.
