Expert Estimates Hunter Biden’s Legal Costs at $100k a Month

Hunter Biden’s legal defense against both the Justice Department and congressional probes could cost more than $100,000 per month, legal experts told Breitbart News, as the scandal-scarred first son faces mounting scrutiny for his mysterious business practices.

According to Hunter’s previous statements, he is not cash-rich. Hunter was nearly penniless while Joe Biden was vice president, living paycheck to paycheck after out-of-control spending, according to Hunter’s ex-wife. From 2018-2019, Joe Biden even committed to wiring Hunter $100,000.

Kevin Morris, the attorney who is leading Hunter’s legal proceedings, reportedly paid a $2 million delinquency Hunter owed to the IRS in 2022. Hunter is awaiting the results of a Delaware grand jury’s investigation into potential tax and gun violations.

Morris is a high-profile entertainment lawyer in Hollywood retained to “craft legal and media strategy” for Hunter. Morris’s firm has represented stars, including Matthew McConaughey, Ellen DeGeneres, Chris Rock, Scarlett Johansson, Zoe Saldana, and Zach Galifianakis, and, most notably, negotiated the South Park deals.

On Thursday, Morris announced attorney Abbe Lowell, who represents high-profile individuals engulfed in political scandals, such as Bill Clinton and Jared Kushner, would join fellow attorneys Chris Clark and Joshua A. Levy on Hunter’s legal defense team. Lowell is slated to defend Hunter from the congressional probes, while Clark and Levy have worked on preventing the DOJ from charging Hunter for tax and gun violations — an investigation that was reportedly opened in 2018.

Clark’s professional history includes working as a partner at the same Washington, DC, law firm where Rep. Liz Cheney’s husband works. The firm’s biography of Clark says he represents Hunter in the “grand jury investigation regarding tax issues.”

Hunter’s fourth attorney, Levy, was hired to combat the Republican House probe into nine potential violations, including wire fraud, violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, tax evasion, and money laundering. Levy’s law firm touts him as the former attorney of Liz Zentos in the Senate Republican probe of Hunter’s business in Ukraine. Levy also represented the opposition research firm Fusion GPS during the Russia hoax.

The high-powered attorneys are a formidable front against congressional staffers and public servants. Critics have noted Hunter’s all-star defense team and questioned how Hunter could afford expensive legal fees month after month while allegedly being strapped for cash.

“Abbe Lowell ain’t cheap. Wonder how Hunter is paying for this after blowing all of his money on drugs and pros. Must be the art gig,” investigative reporter Chuck Ross tweeted.

According to attorneys with knowledge of industry compensation standards, Hunter could be paying more than $100,000 per month ($1.2 million per year) for his legal defense team. Lawyers at such a level would cost $1,000 per hour, a D.C. attorney who asked for anonymity for fear of retribution and reprisal told Breitbart News. Prepping for a single hearing could range from 6 to 40 hours, another attorney said.

Florida litigator Anthony Sabatini questioned how Hunter is footing the bill for his legal expenses and suggested outside money could be flowing to Morris.

“Hunter has to find the money somewhere. If Morris paid Hunter’s two million dollar tax bill, Morris could be at the nucleus of Hunter’s legal defense funds,” Sabatini told Breitbart News. “An attorney’s ethical duty is to the client and not the payer.”

“For $100,000 per month, someone is on the hook to pay up,” he added.

Where Hunter is getting the money for his legal bills is unknown, but it’s public knowledge that Hunter has maintained multiple income streams.

Documents show the Biden family business collected money from Russian, Ukrainian, and Chinese business partners while Joe Biden held elected office as a senator and vice president and in the time between being vice president and president. Hunter earned tens of millions of dollars from foreign business deals for which “Hunter offered no real work,” according to Breitbart News’s senior contributor Peter Schweizer.

“What we know is that the Biden family has benefited from commercial deals overseas to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. That’s not in dispute. That’s based on the so-called suspicious activity reports that the Treasury Department has released because a U.S. Senate committee asked for it,” Schweizer explained.

“These documents show the flow of funds from Russian, Ukrainian, and Chinese sources, among others. So we know there’s been a flow of funds. We also know that the people sending that money have very close relationships with the government,” Schweizer added.

Some of the Biden family business ventures appear to be still active. As of July 2022, the White House has refused to say if Hunter is divested from his stake in a Chinese energy firm. Chinese records indicate Hunter still holds a ten percent stake in Skaneateles, a company Hunter helped found via the infamous entity of BHR Partners. Hunter’s attorney claims he “no longer holds any interest, directly or indirectly in either BHR or Skaneateles.”

Hunter’s alleged interest in Skaneateles comes as he has taken up the art of painting — works he is now selling for $100,000 through a well-connected art dealer, Georges Bergès. Hunter has reportedly sold at least five pieces of art for $75,000 each. One of his reported paintings hangs in first lady Jill Biden’s White House office.

Hunter Biden with his artwork (ABC News/screenshot)

Rep. James Comer (R-KY) told Breitbart News he believes Hunter’s artwork was sold to Chinese oligarchs — as Bergès is allegedly well-connected in those circles. “We are 95% sure that that artwork went to China,” Comer said. “We don’t know where exactly that went to in China, but we’re going to try to find out when we get subpoena power.”

“With respect to China, since Joe Biden’s been president, that we didn’t even talk about in the press conference, was the fact that Hunter became an artist for a week, if you’ll remember, and he sold some very expensive artwork,” Comer added.

The art market is known for corruption; a 2020 Senate subcommittee report detailed how the art market serves as a vehicle for money laundering.

“The Subcommittee’s investigation uncovered a complex set of facts involving shell companies with hidden owners, intermediaries who mask purchasers and sellers, and lax money laundering safeguards in the U.S. art industry,” the report read. “Secrecy, anonymity, and a lack of regulation create an environment ripe for laundering money and evading sanctions.”

But Hunter has defended his art business on a podcast, saying, “Fuck ’em” to his critics.

“Fuck ’em… Look, man,” Hunter Biden said on the Nota Bene Podcast in 2021, “I never said my art was going to cost what it was going to cost or how much it would be priced at. I would be amazed, you know, if my art was sold for, you know, for, umm, for ten dollars.”

“The value of an artist’s work is, umm, is not necessarily determined by the price. But the price is completely subjective. … It has nothing to do with anything other than, you know, the moment. Like, umm, you know,” Hunter tried to explain. “Taping a banana to the wall. … But, but, but, it means something, and it meant something to someone.”

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.

Emma-Jo Morris is the Politics Editor at Breitbart News. Email her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter.

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