Prosecutors from special counsel David Weiss’ office accuse Hunter Biden of taking money from a Romanian businessman who wanted to influence U.S. government agencies while Joe Biden was vice president.
If true, this would be the closest link between President Joe Biden and his son’s international business deals, which have been under scrutiny by congressional Republicans for years.
The claim, made in a court filing on Wednesday in Hunter Biden’s federal tax case, relates to Hunter’s work for Gabriel Popoviciu, a wealthy Romanian. Popoviciu, who hired Hunter for legal work in late 2015, was facing corruption charges in Romania at that time.
At Hunter Biden’s upcoming tax trial, the government plans to show evidence that Hunter and a business associate were paid by a foreign principal who wanted to influence U.S. policy and public opinion, and to prompt the U.S. to investigate the Romanian case against Popoviciu.
Prosecutors say Hunter Biden and his associate were worried that lobbying might have political consequences for Joe Biden, so they structured the deal to hide the true nature of the work.
This is the first time prosecutors have suggested that Hunter Biden was paid for lobbying. They previously mentioned his work with Popoviciu in a December indictment.
Prosecutors claim Hunter Biden and his two business partners received over $3 million from Popoviciu between November 2015 and 2017.
Hunter Biden’s representative did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Hunter Biden faces three felony tax charges and additional misdemeanors for allegedly failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes from 2016 to 2020. These back taxes and penalties were paid by a third party, identified as Hunter Biden’s attorney, Kevin Morris.
The trial in California is set to start in early September.