WASHINGTON — Hunter Biden received a whopping $4.9 million from Hollywood lawyer Kevin Morris in a three-year period, according to an IRS agent who investigated the president’s son for alleged tax evasion.
The revelation signifies a substantial increase in the known amount Hunter, 53, got from his so-called “sugar brother” after the men reportedly met for the first time at a December 2019 campaign fundraiser.
IRS agent Joseph Ziegler shared the jaw-dropping figure and additional documentation Tuesday with the House Ways & Means Committee in a follow-up appearance as House Republicans near an expected vote to authorize an impeachment inquiry into President Biden for his alleged role in his family’s foreign dealings.
Prior reporting indicated Morris paid about $2 million in tax debts for Hunter and purchased some of his novice artworks.
Morris’ motives for helping the first son financially and the authenticity of their friendship is debated by Republicans.
As part of his Tuesday testimony, Ziegler provided legislators an email showing that as early as Feb. 7, 2020 — two months after they met — Morris was contacting accountants on Hunter’s behalf and warning them to work quickly to avoid “considerable risk personally and politically.”
Ziegler, who investigated Hunter’s taxes for five years before he was removed from the case this year, said that the first son’s income from Morris — at least some of it deemed loans — resembled Hunter’s practice of trying to avoid paying taxes on other income by describing it as loans.
“Hunter appeared to follow a pattern of attempting to avoid paying taxes on relevant income. This first started with Hunter not reporting the [Ukrainian gas company] Burisma income in 2014 and allegedly falsely claiming that it was a loan to him,” Ziegler said in his opening statement.
“He, again, tried to claim the millions in [Chinese] income earned from Hudson West III was a loan to him, which was refuted by the evidence and was not allowed by his tax accountants.
“This continued into 2020, 2021 and 2022, in which Hunter received approximately $4.9 million in payments for personal expenses, again in the form of a loan and gift from Democratic Donor Kevin Patrick Morris.”
Ziegler and the rest of his investigative unit were removed the tax fraud case targeting Hunter, allegedly on Justice Department orders, in May after Ziegler joined his supervisor Gary Shapley in publicly alleging a coverup featuring preferential treatment for the first family.
One month later, the US attorney’s office in Delaware announced a probation-only plea deal for Hunter, which ultimately fell apart at a July court hearing when his lawyers pressed for assurances that he had broad immunity for other possible crimes committed in the past.
The full transcript of Ziegler and Shapley’s latest testimony to the tax-focused Ways & Means Committee was not immediately available.
But a source familiar with the behind-closed-door exchanges told The Post that Ziegler was asked to confirm the $4.9 million figure for Morris’ contributions and did so.
It’s possible that Morris gave even more in 2023 that’s not included in the total.
Morris did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment, nor did the White House or Hunter’s legal team.
A Los Angeles grand jury reportedly is considering tax charges against Hunter in a case that could include related counts, such as for allegedly violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act by introducing associates to his vice-president father and other US officials.
Republicans have in recent weeks also focused on purported loans involving first brother James Biden.
House Oversight Committee’s GOP leaders allege that James “laundered” $40,000 in Chinese government-linked funds to pay Joe Biden in September 2017, and that he paid his brother $200,000 in 2018 after getting an identical amount the same day by promising to help a US hospital chain find a Middle Eastern investor using his political connections.
The White House said those two transfers were genuine loan repayments and that President Biden did nothing wrong, but Republicans say that the funds that James claimed to be repaying were transferred to him from a law firm rather than Joe Biden’s personal account, clouding the picture.
Ziegler, a registered Democrat, and Shapley, a registered Republican who says he voted for Democrats in the past including Bill Clinton, publicly objected to the handling of Hunter’s tax fraud investigation as Delaware US attorney David Weiss reportedly was considering allowing Hunter to avoid any charges, after Biden-appointed US attorneys in Los Angeles and Washington declined to partner on a prosecution in their districts, where the tax crimes would be brought because of residence issues.
Ziegler on Tuesday scolded Democratic legislators for their handling of the case.
