Hunter Biden faces disbarment if convicted for felonies, already suspended by one state Bar

Not only has Hunter Biden been indicted in California for failing to pay taxes on his substantial income from foreign sources, but the younger Biden even failed to pay fees to the Connecticut Bar, resulting in his suspension as a licensed lawyer in the state since at least March 2021.

According to the records maintained by the Connecticut Judicial Branch, Hunter Biden is on Administrative Suspension for failure to register in accordance with Practice Book Section 2-27(d).” Biden’s suspension under this section relates to a failure to renew registration or failing to complete the continuing legal education required, according to the Connecticut practice book.

Hunter Biden has been suspended from the Connecticut Bar since March 2021 as a result of his failure to pay the Client Security Fund fee, assessed to provide a fund to “reimburse losses resulting from the dishonest conduct of a Connecticut attorney” in the practice of law.” The annual fee that Hunter Biden was required to pay is $75, according to the Connecticut Judiciary. He faced suspension for failing to pay this fee on four separate occasions, according to the public record.

The first son remains a lawyer in good standing with the Washington, D.C. Bar, according to public record, but recent federal charges—both for gun crimes and tax violations—bear the consequences of revocation if Hunter is convicted of any of these counts, according to the rules governing the bar and according to legal experts. Although the D.C. Bar rules require attorneys to "self-report" a suspension imposed in another state, Just The News was unable to determine whether he has informed the D.C. Bar of his Connecticut suspension.

Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, did not respond to a request for comment from Just the News at the time of publication, and the D.C. Bar did not respond to an inquiry from Just the News.

Legal experts and the D.C. Bar’s regulations indicate that Hunter Biden could lose his license to practice in the federal district as a result of federal charges against him for firearms and tax violations in Delaware and California, respectively.

Professor Stephen Gillers, an expert in legal and judicial ethics at the New York University School of Law told Just the News Tuesday that Hunter Biden could face disciplinary action in Washington, D.C. resulting in his suspension as a result of his federal charges. 

“If a lawyer presents an ongoing threat, the lawyer can be suspended even before formal discipline or a conviction. That does not seem to be so here,” Gillers told Just the News Tuesday.

“Biden can be suspended or disbarred if convicted in federal court of a 'serious crime,’ defined below from the court rules. However, even if he is not convicted of a serious crime, even if he is acquitted or convicted of a different crime, the same conduct can be a basis for discipline. The two systems operate independently,” Gillers continued.

Gillers provided the definition of a serious crime: “The term "serious crime" shall include: (1) any felony, and (2) any other crime a necessary element of which, as determined by the statutory or common law definition of such crime, involves improper conduct as an attorney, interference with the administration of justice, false swearing, misrepresentation, fraud, willful failure to file income tax returns, deceit, bribery, extortion…”

By this standard, which is present in both the D.C. Bar and Connecticut Bar regulations, Hunter Biden would face disbarment in both of these jurisdictions if  convicted of either federal gun and tax charges. One of the federal gun charges is the result of Hunter Biden lying about his drug use on a background check form when he purchased a firearm in 2018. In California, Hunter Biden is charged with failing to file his income tax returns, a crime directly enumerated in the bar regulations.

In addition to potential violations over his federal charges, Hunter Biden may have run afoul of other D.C. Bar rules, despite currently being a member in good standing. Hunter Biden’s openly admitted drug use as well as his alleged influence peddling both have implications for his status under the D.C. bar.

“If the Board has reason to believe that an attorney is incapacitated from continuing to practice law because of mental infirmity or illness or because of addiction to drugs or intoxicants, the Board may petition the Court to determine whether the attorney is so incapacitated,” the D.C. Bar rules read.

“In a case of addiction to drugs or intoxicants, the Court alternatively may consider the possibility of probationary conditions,” the rules continue.

Hunter Biden openly admitted to drug use during the time he was a licensed lawyer with the D.C. bar.

“I’m a 51-year-old father who helped raise three beautiful daughters.I’ve bought crack cocaine on the streets of Washington, D.C., and cooked up my own inside a hotel bungalow in Los Angeles,” Hunter Biden wrote in the prologue to his 2021 memoir “Beautiful Things: A Memoir.”

“I’ve been so desperate for a drink that I couldn’t make the one-block walk between a liquor store and my apartment without uncapping the bottle to take a swig. In the last five years alone, my two-decades-long marriage has dissolved, guns have been put in my face, and at one point I dropped clean off the grid, living in $59-a-night Super 8 motels off I-95 while scaring my family even more than myself,” he continued, describing an apparent alcohol addiction among other difficulties.

Hunter Biden also admitted to heavy drug use in his now-defunct plea agreement. “Biden also has a well-documented and long-standing struggle with substance abuse. Following the death of his brother in 2015, Biden relapsed and over time progressed from alcohol to abusing illegal drugs, including crack cocaine in 2016,” the agreement reads.

“By his own telling in a memoir published in 2021, Biden’s substance abuse worsened in 2018, a year that included a move to Los Angeles and what he has described as a ‘spring and summer of nonstop debauchery’,” the plea agreement said.

D.C. Bar rules also state that it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to state or imply an ability to influence improperly a government agency or official.

According to the testimony of IRS Whistleblower Gary Shapley, Hunter Biden wrote a threatening text message to his Chinese business partner Henry Zhao invoking his father’s name and implying influence over him.

“I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight,” Hunter Biden wrote.

“And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father,” he continued, according to the WhatsApp message obtained by the investigators.

Last week, Hunter Biden’s lawyer called for the gun charges against the younger Biden to be dismissed because an appeals court found elsewhere that the law violates the Second Amendment. Lowell also argued that the charges violate the plea agreement that his client negotiated in good faith with the government.

“These charges are unprecedented, unconstitutional and violate the agreement the U.S. Attorney made with Mr. Biden,” Lowell said in a statement, according to Associated Press. “This is not how an independent investigation is supposed to work, and these charges should be dismissed.”

Hunter Biden is set to be arraigned on tax charges on January 11, according to the U.S. Federal Court for the Central District of California. Special Counsel David Weiss brought the nine federal tax charges against the first son after the plea deal was scuttled in early October. The charges center on Hunter Biden’s failure to pay $1.4 million in taxes from 2016 to 2020.