Hunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden, has pleaded guilty to all nine charges in the federal tax evasion case. Earlier, Hunter Biden had denied allegations that he intentionally avoided paying $1.4m in income tax from 2016-19. According to the media, Judge Mark Scarsi said that in pleading guilty, Biden faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and fines ranging from $0.5 million to $1 million. He is due to be sentenced on 16 December, a month right after the US Presidential Election and a month before his father leaves office.

Hunter said he wanted to enter a plea where he would accept the charges while maintaining his innocence, but he agreed to simply plead guilty after prosecutors objected. In a statement after the hearing, Hunter said he pleaded guilty to spare his family from having to sit through a trial that would have aired messy details from a period of his life where he was suffering from drug addiction. Three months ago, he was found guilty in a separate case of charges related to gun possession and drug use, becoming the first criminally convicted son of a sitting US president.