And now the matter has been resolved with two misdemeanor charges. The conclusion is deeply frustrating to IRS agents like WB2. Hunter Biden failed to file returns, failed to pay his taxes for several years, and falsely claimed deductions. WB2 also pointed out, more than once, that Hunter Biden’s tax offenses occurred over a period of years, some of which he was on drugs and some of which he was not, meaning that not all of the violations can be attributed to Hunter Biden’s being in a drug-induced haze, as some defenders suggest. The agents’ conclusion is that just because Hunter Biden’s new friend bailed him out — no repayments required until 2025 — does not mean Hunter Biden did not violate the tax laws repeatedly in the 2010s.

At the end of WB2’s deposition, a Republican lawyer asked this question: “If someone meets all the elements for a crime of willful evasion and are found to, in conjunction with that, owe a liability, and they pay off that liability years later when they’ve been caught, has a crime been committed?” WB2 answered simply: “Yes.”