Hunter Biden Lied To CPA, Then Scrambled To Clean Up Tax Mess During 2020 Presidential Race
In the glaring spotlight of the 2020 presidential race, as Joe Biden vowed to make the wealthy pay their “fair share” in taxes, a financial drama was unfolding behind the scenes with his crack addict son, Hunter – who was frantically trying to clean up a trail of unpaid taxes before it became an explosive scandal. Recent revelations from IRS memos, made public by Congress, lay bare a saga of deceit and desperation.
The IRS memos, part of a staggering 700-page release by the House Ways and Means Committee, unravel a sordid tale. Hunter, in his scramble to settle outstanding taxes dating back to 2014 – including income from Ukrainian energy giant Burisma Holdings – seemingly misled his own accountant, Jeffrey Gelfound of Edward White & Company. Gelfound, now a cooperating witness in the IRS’s criminal probe, might be a crucial figure if tax charges are brought against Hunter Biden by Special Counsel David Weiss.
According to Gelfound, efforts to pay Hunter’s tax debts intensified in 2020 over fears that the IRS and other tax authorities would place liens on his assets, which would have become public – and therefore an embarrassment to the Biden family.
“Yeah, if there was going to be media attention because they were going to lien,” Gelfound told IRS agents in an April 2021 interview, Just the News reports.
In another later interview conducted by IRS agents in November 2021, Gelfound revealed that his firm signed an unusual representation letter with the younger Biden just days after the 2020 election, in which Hunter attested that the information that he provided was truthful. Gelfound told investigators that this was the first time he had ever seen a representation letter like it.
“Yeah, when would you typically sign the representation?” IRS investigators asked Gelfound. “This is- any type of representation, it’s not standard,” he answered.
“When we typically prepare returns, there’s an engagement letter that’s different than this one,” he continued, telling investigators that this letter was different. “[T]his is a first that I’ve seen and had a client sit down and sign a letter of this type.”
What’s more damning are the inconsistencies in Hunter Biden’s financial disclosures. Payments from Hudson West III, a company linked to Hunter and Chinese energy tycoon Ye Jianming, were initially misrepresented as personal loans rather than income. This misclassification, later corrected by Gelfound, paints a picture of either willful deceit or alarming ignorance on Hunter’s part.
The situation grew more convoluted with Hunter Biden’s dubious tax deductions. Payments to an “escort,” absurdly filed as business expenses, and personal expenses like a $30,000 payment to Columbia University, life insurance, and his daughter’s rent, were wrongly claimed as tax deductions. These revelations, extracted from Gelfound’s interviews with IRS investigators, expose a pattern of misrepresentation and financial mismanagement.
Despite these revelations, Hunter Biden has so far evaded felony tax charges. A proposed plea deal involving misdemeanor charges was scrapped by a judge, igniting debates over possible leniency. IRS whistleblowers have accused the Delaware U.S. Attorney’s office of dallying, allowing statutes of limitation on Hunter’s pre-2017 tax violations to expire.
These disclosures also cast a shadow on Joe Biden’s presidential tenure. House Republicans, intensifying their probe into the Bidens’ business dealings, have issued subpoenas to various family members and associates. The White House has dismissed these moves as a partisan smear campaign, but the mounting evidence suggests a more complex and potentially incriminating narrative.
IRS Whistleblower Joseph Ziegler provided evidence of the inappropriate deductions to the House Ways and Means Committee, explaining how they could be used to build a case that Hunter Biden willfully violated tax laws.
For example, the representation letter “would have been included as evidence of willfulness and knowledge for the 2018 felony charges, which includes [tax evasion] and [false return] charges,” Ziegler wrote in his affidavit to the committee. Evidence of Hunter Biden’s misclassified payment from Hudson West III would have been used as evidence for similar charges for both the 2014 and 2018 tax years, he added.
However, despite the evidence collected by investigators, Hunter Biden has not been charged with any felony tax crimes. Two misdemeanor tax charges that were part of plea deal this summer with Weiss’ office were withdrawn when a judge rejected what some called a “sweetheart” plea deal. -Just the News
As the investigation continues to unfold, House Republicans have intensified their inquiry into the Biden family’s business transactions. Recently, Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, (R-KY), issued subpoenas to Hunter and James Biden, along with their business associate Rob Walker, while also sending interview requests to Sara and Hallie Biden. Furthermore, the committee extended its reach to the art world, scrutinizing the sale of Hunter Biden’s artwork at the Bergès Art Gallery through additional subpoenas. These actions signify a deepening probe, as the committee aims to unravel the full extent of the Biden family’s financial engagements and the potential implications for public office integrity.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 11/10/2023 – 12:45
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/ZJSUjuY Tyler Durden