Hunter Biden has been quietly embroiled in years of lawsuits and multi-million dollar debts while his alleged crimes are in the spotlight, a report says.
While the First Son will face a criminal trial next week for firearms violations, Hunter, 54, has also been hit with several scathing statements in recent years that have gone under the radar, reports Axios.
This included a ruling in January 2021, shortly after his father’s presidential inauguration, that found he owed his ex-wife Kathleen Buhle more than $1.7 million in alimony, legal fees and interest following their 2017 divorce.
The revelations come as Buhle is expected to be a key witness in Hunter’s upcoming trial, where he is accused of lying on federal background checks about his crack cocaine addiction when he bought a gun in 2018.
Hunter Biden (pictured appearing in court on May 24, 2024) has been quietly embroiled in years of lawsuits and multi-million dollar debts
Hunter’s ex-wife Kathleen Buhle (pictured together in 2016) claims the First Son owes her at least $1.7 million in unpaid debts
Buhle’s testimony is expected to include intimate details about his finances and drug use, which was once described by his ex-girlfriend Zoe Kestan – who is also set to testify – as smoking crack cocaine “every 20 minutes except when he was sleeping.”
And according to previously reported divorce filings, Buhle made no secret of her disdain for Hunter’s so-called wild lifestyle.
She said her ex-husband has spent “an excessive amount of money on his own interests (including drugs, alcohol, prostitutes, strip clubs and gifts for women he has sexual relations with) while the family has run out of money to pay legitimate bills.” .’
Hunter’s trial next week is likely to include embarrassing details about the presidential family, with Buhle likely to testify about their marriage and Hunter’s confessed drug addiction.
Although the gun trial is set to begin next week, the newly revealed legal battle, first shared by Axios, appears to relate more to his second trial in Los Angeles in September, which involved more than $1.4 million in reportedly unpaid federal taxes between 2016 and 2019 was central.
During their bitter divorce, Buhle alleged that Hunter would spend excessive amounts of money on “drugs, alcohol, prostitutes, strip clubs and gifts for women he has sexual relations with, while leaving the family no money to pay legitimate bills.”
The former couple has been in and out of court for years, with Buhle successfully suing Hunter in civil court in June 2019, claiming he breached their divorce agreement.
In their divorce agreement, Hunter was ordered to pay Buhle $37,000 per month in alimony payments, plus 50 percent of all income over $875,000 per year.
According to the newly released records, Hunter failed to pay any additional spousal support he owed in 2017 and 2018, despite earning $2.4 and $2.1 million in those years, respectively.
He also stopped paying Buhle’s monthly alimony after she sued him in June 2019, further adding to his unpaid debts.
Hunter’s legal team claimed he stopped making payments when he ran out of money due to his drug addiction, but the court determined he owed Buhle at least $1.1 million plus 6 percent interest for the unpaid years of 2017 and 2018.
After his divorce, Hunter moved on with his late brother Beau’s ex-wife, before marrying his current wife, filmmaker Melissa Cohen Biden (pictured together in May 2024).
Their legal battle became more hostile during Hunter’s father’s 2020 presidential campaign, when Buhle’s lawyers filed for contempt of court against Hunter over a missed $259,000 payment.
This led Hunter’s lawyers to claim that Buhle was using the presidential race to blackmail Hunter into making payments.
As recently as April 2023, Buhle claimed Biden paid her just $35,815 in 2022, at a time when a court-appointed special master was brought in to settle the case.
That filing alleged that Hunter owed his ex-wife a staggering total of $2.9 million.