Investigations and federal indictments
In December 2020, Biden made a public announcement via his attorney that his tax affairs were under federal criminal investigation. The New York Times and CNN described the investigation as having started in late 2018 and being related to potential violations of tax and money laundering laws and Biden's business dealings in foreign countries, principally China. The Wall Street Journal reported that Biden had provided legal and consulting services that generated foreign-earned income, citing a Senate Republicans' report that $4.79 million (equivalent to $6,141,433 in 2025) in wire transfers from entities linked to Chinese energy tycoon Ye Jianming and his company, CEFC China Energy, were paying for such services.
The New York Times reported in March 2022 that, since 2018, Biden and possibly others had been under investigation by federal prosecutors in Delaware, with a grand jury convened to subpoena and hear evidence. The investigation examined payments and gifts Biden or his associates had received from foreign interests and whether Biden had violated the law by not registering as a lobbyist under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). The Times reported it had acquired emails that were authenticated by people familiar with them and the investigation that appeared to come from a laptop belonging to Biden. One April 2014 email, written by Biden to his business partner as their work with Burisma was about to begin, noted that his father, then the vice president who would soon visit Kyiv, should "be characterized as part of our advice and thinking—but what he will say and do is out of our hands". The email also stated that Burisma officials "need to know in no uncertain terms that we will not and cannot intervene directly with domestic policymakers, and that we need to abide by FARA and any other U.S. laws in the strictest sense across the board". Biden wrote that his father's visit "could be a really good thing or it could end up creating too great an expectation. We need to temper expectations regarding that visit." He also wrote that his employer, the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, could help Burisma through "direct discussions at state, energy and NSC [United States National Security Council]". Other emails showed Biden and his business partner discussing inviting foreign business associates, including a Burisma executive, to attend an April 2015 dinner in Washington, where the vice president would stop by.
A July 2022 report from CNN authenticated emails which showed that Biden was struggling with large debt and overdue tax bills. In October 2022, The Washington Post reported that federal agents had determined months prior that they had assembled enough evidence for a viable criminal case against Biden to charge him with crimes related to making false declarations during a gun purchase, as well as tax-related crimes. The next step was for Delaware U.S. attorney David C. Weiss, a holdover from the Trump administration, to decide on whether to file such charges. Federal investigators had also been examining the lobbying firm Blue Star Strategies, which Burisma retained while Biden sat on its board, for possible illegal lobbying of American officials. There was no indication Biden was a subject of the investigation. Blue Star employees said in Senate testimony that Biden was included in emails about the firm's work but that he was not particularly involved. One of the firm's co-founders said Biden did not direct its work. Blue Star's work came after Burisma's owner was criticized by the United States State Department, and the firm's founders testified the firm had merely approached officials to determine the government's views of Burisma.
On June 20, 2023, in a deal with prosecutors, Biden agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges of failure to pay income tax, and to enter a pretrial diversion program related to a felony gun charge of unlawful possession of a firearm. Prosecutors recommended two years of probation for the tax charges; the gun charge would be dropped at the end of this period if the conditions of the diversion program had been met successfully. Having the gun charge dropped was conditional on Biden remaining drug-free and never being allowed to own a firearm again. Biden's attorney said the agreement with prosecutors "resolved" the investigation, though the Justice Department said the investigation was "ongoing".
In court on July 26, 2023, federal prosecutors explained that the "ongoing" aspect of the investigation referred to possible charges under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA); FARA requires that anyone who acts on the behalf of a foreign government, e.g. China or Ukraine, must register with the Department of Justice and file regular reports on their activities for that government. On July 26, the plea deal was rejected by the presiding judge, who cited concerns over immunity Biden might receive from future charges, and gave 30 days to both the government prosecutors and Biden's defense team to provide additional information. Biden changed his plea from "guilty" to "not guilty".
On August 8, Weiss requested appointment as a special counsel in the Biden investigation, which attorney general Merrick Garland granted. Garland announced the appointment on August 11, the same day Weiss announced government and Biden attorneys could not reach agreement on a new plea deal. The Justice Department said on September 6 that Weiss would ask a grand jury to return an indictment of Biden on a gun charge by September 29. On September 14, Biden was officially indicted in Delaware on three federal firearms-related charges: two for making false statements on a firearm application form and one for prohibited possession of a firearm. He was arraigned on October 3 and pleaded not guilty to all charges. Legal experts noted that prosecutions for these charges are rare. In January 2024, prosecutors urged a judge to not dismiss Biden's gun charge, revealing that cocaine residue was found in his gun pouch.
On December 7, 2023, Biden was indicted in California on nine tax charges, including three felony and six misdemeanor offenses. The indictment reads that "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." Biden's lawyer said that Biden had repaid his taxes in full prior to the indictment. On January 11, 2024, Biden pleaded not guilty to the tax charges. The same day, U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi scheduled the trial for June 20, 2024. The trial was later delayed to September 5, 2024, due to the "needs of the defendant" in preparing for his Delaware trial on firearms charges in June. Biden repeatedly sought to dismiss both tax and gun charges against him, without success.
In August 2024, prosecutors alleged that Biden agreed to lobby on behalf of a Romanian businessman seeking to "influence U.S. government agencies" while his father was vice president. The businessman, Gabriel Popoviciu, was under criminal investigation in Romania at the time and hired Biden to assist in fighting his criminal charges through the US government. Prosecutors sought to introduce evidence from Biden's work with Popoviciu as part of his charges on tax evasion. A pre-trial hearing for the tax indictment which involved Biden's lawyers would be held on August 21, 2024.
During the final hearing, Judge Maryellen Noreika ruled that prosecutors could not refer to his upcoming California tax trial, child support proceedings in Arkansas, his discharge from the Navy, or include statements which Biden made at a July 2023 hearing where his plea deal collapsed. However, the prosecution was permitted to bring up Biden's drug use, portions of his memoir, and a summary of data from his laptop, phone, and iPad.
Biden's trial began on June 3, 2024, on charges of unlawfully possessing a gun as a drug user, lying on a federal form when he bought the gun, and making a false statement about information required to be collected by a federally licensed gun dealer. The charges stemmed from a gun purchased and possessed by Biden in October 2018. During the trial, three of Biden's former partners testified regarding Biden's drug usage and gun purchase. On June 11, Biden was found guilty on three felony charges for federal gun violations. The conviction made Biden the first child of a sitting U.S. president to be convicted in a criminal trial. Due to his conviction on felony charges, Biden's license to practice law in Washington, D.C. was suspended. Biden was scheduled to be sentenced on December 12, 2024, which did not occur due to him being pardoned by his father on December 1.
On September 5, 2024, Biden's defense lawyer Abbe Lowell revealed that Biden would change his plea from not guilty to guilty in the federal tax case. Biden had been indicted with three felony charges– one tax evasion count and two counts of filing false returns – and six misdemeanor charges. Under this proposed plea agreement, Biden would have accepted both a sentence and the strength of evidence against him, but also maintained his innocence. Later in the day, it was reported that this plea offer would not be accepted by the prosecution. Initially, Judge Scarsi would neither accept the initial plea offer or call off the trial, but also did not make a final ruling and would opt to make a decision about the plea offer at a later time.
Prosecutors said they would reject an Alford plea. However, Scarsi accepted a guilty plea by the end of the day, with Biden pleading guilty to all nine charges. During his plea hearing, Biden responded "Yes" after Scarsi asked him "Do you agree you committed every element of the charges in the indictment?" Biden was scheduled to be sentenced on December 16, 2024, and he could have faced up to 17 years in prison. Former federal prosecutor, Tom Dupree, told CBS News he expected the judge to impose a sentence of fewer than five years. President Biden, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, First Lady Jill Biden, and White House spokesperson Andrew Bates repeatedly stated that the president would decline to pardon Hunter or commute his sentence.
