As we reported, the Hunter Biden plea agreement fell apart in a massive failure when Judge Maryellen Norieka began raising questions about the agreement and wouldn’t sign off on the deal.

Now we have copies of both the plea agreement for the two tax charges and the diversion agreement with regard to the gun charge. They reveal that the agreement was even more of a sweetheart deal than people had imagined. The deal that had been proposed was that Biden would plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and would be able to avoid punishment on the gun charge if he was able to avoid trouble for two years. The reference to the “Information” is how one charges misdemeanors.

Under that plea agreement, he would have admitted to not paying more than $1,199,524 in taxes, which could have gotten him 12 months imprisonment on each of the two counts. They weren’t counting the gun charge as “relevant” against him in consideration of the tax charges, and they were asking for a reduction of three levels. “For reasons to be articulated at or near sentencing,” they were recommending probation. He agreed to the restitution order because a “third party” has already paid the tax that he owed, so it’s no skin off his nose. It doesn’t specifically state for what term the period of non-payment of taxes is, although it mentions that if there are other taxes found not to be paid between 2014-2019, this agreement would not apply, and in the statement of facts, it talks about the period between 2017-2019.

It then includes a statement of facts that lays out Hunter Biden’s activities in those years. That statement of facts sets out that he served on the boards of a Ukrainian energy company and a Chinese equity fund and that he was, for at least a period in 2017, of counsel to a multinational law firm. For those years, he raked in more than $2.3 million in 2017 and $2.1 million in 2018. It explains how he got $1 million in “legal fees” from the guy that Hunter Biden called the “spy chief” of China, Patrick Ho. Yet he still didn’t pay his taxes, and he blew the money on “profligate spending.”

It talks about him being sued in two different domestic relations lawsuits, and he was under a court order to provide his tax returns – which he hadn’t done – and facing possible sanctions/imprisonment. He couldn’t provide them because he hadn’t filed them. It also notes that he “miscategorized” certain personal expenses as “legitimate business expenses.” He didn’t end up filing his individual and corporate returns for 2017 and 2018 until February 18, 2020. He also didn’t file his 2016 1040 form until June 12, 2020. In 2019, he filed timely but didn’t pay his estimated tax on time. All his outstanding balances and penalties were paid by a “third party.”

In the diversion agreement, he agreed to waive any defenses to the gun charge and agreed not to possess any guns in the future. He also agreed, as we previously reported, during the two-year diversion period not to use alcohol, consume or possess any controlled dangerous substance, continue to seek employment, submit to drug testing as requested by the probation office, communicate to the office any international travel plans, and not violate any laws. That would likely have been very problematic for him to adhere to.

But then here was the kicker in the diversion agreement:

The United States agrees not to criminally prosecute Biden, outside of the terms of this Agreement, for any federal crimes encompassed by the attached Statement of Facts (Attachment A) and the Statement of Facts (Exhibit 1) to the Memorandum of Plea Agreement filed this same day. This Agreement does not provide any protection against prosecution for any future conduct by Biden or by any of his affiliated businesses.

This is the attempt to hide the sweet deal in the diversion agreement. Hunter’s attorneys thought this was giving them blanket immunity for his prior actions, but then when the prosecutors said they were still considering things like a FARA charge, the deal fell apart.

That’s why they were laying out so many facts and setting out the Burisma and Chinese relationship in the Statement of Facts because then they could use this part in the diversion agreement to say that he should not be pursued for any potential crimes regarding any of that. That’s why it looked like they were trying to pull a fast one, why the judge put the brakes on and wouldn’t sign aboard it. She asked them to submit briefs on what they were trying to do here.

My colleague Jennifer Van Laar will have more information on the case, she’s breaking down the transcript of the hearing, but she notes the following.

I've been reading the official transcript of Hunter Biden's hearing today (110 pgs) and not all the way through but something that strikes me so far: US Atty Weiss' office was really trying to game the system bc they hid the agreement to not charge various things related to the… pic.twitter.com/WFKOUyICwk

— Jennifer Van Laar (@jenvanlaar) July 27, 2023