On the face of it, Hunter Biden appears at risk of being sentenced to as long as 25 years in prison and $750,000 in fines if he is convicted on the three gun charges brought against him by federal prosecutors Thursday.
In reality, few people fitting Biden’s profile — a first-time, nonviolent offender accused of lying on a federal firearms application, who never used the gun (in his case, a Colt Cobra .38 that he held on to for less than two weeks five years ago) to commit a crime — get serious prison time for the offenses charged in the indictment.
Just bringing the charges is out of the ordinary in some ways, former law enforcement officials say, and the legal basis of the prosecution is under constitutional challenge.
Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times
Here’s a rundown of the accusations against President Joe Biden’s son and what makes the case unusual.
What are the charges?
The indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Wilmington, Delaware, charged Hunter Biden with three felonies: lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail; making a false claim on the federal firearms application used to screen applicants, with a sentence of up to five years; and possession of an illegally obtained gun from Oct. 12 to Oct. 23, 2018, which carries a maximum of 10 years.
The charges stem from the purchase of a handgun by Biden at one of the low points of his troubled life. He had been addicted to crack...
Professional rivalry and office politics were the driving forces behind the "false" sexual harassment and conversion allegations levelled against Tata Consulting Services (TCS) employee Raza Rafiq...