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Washington: US President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, has been charged with engaging in a four-year scheme to avoid paying some $US1.4 million in taxes while spending millions of dollars on a lavish lifestyle, the Justice Department said.

Hunter Biden was charged with a total of nine criminal counts – three felony tax offences and six misdemeanour tax offences – and faces a maximum penalty of 17 years in prison if convicted, according to an indictment filed in US District Court in Central California.

The legal clouds hanging over Hunter Biden come as President Joe Biden is looking to run for the White House again.Credit: AP

The department said its investigation into Biden is ongoing.

“The defendant engaged in a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019,” the indictment read.

It added that he had “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills”.

A spokesperson for Special Counsel David Weiss and a lawyer for Hunter Biden did not immediately reply for requests for comment.

Hunter Biden in October pleaded not guilty to charges that he lied about his drug use while buying a handgun, in the first criminal prosecution of a sitting US president’s child.

Weiss brought those charges against Hunter Biden after an earlier proposed plea deal unravelled under questioning from a judge. Weiss is still investigating whether the younger Biden can be charged for tax law violations.

The special counsel investigating Hunter has employed a grand jury in Los Angeles to seek documents and possible testimony from multiple witnesses as part of the federal investigation of Hunter Biden’s business dealings, CNN reported last month.

Reuters

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