Hunter Biden's lawyers, prosecutors headed back to court ahead of his trial on federal tax charges | Canada News Media
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Hunter Biden’s lawyers, prosecutors headed back to court ahead of his trial on federal tax charges

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Weeks before Hunter Biden is set to stand trial on federal tax charges, the legal team for President Joe Biden’s son and prosecutors will appear in a California courtroom Wednesday as the judge weighs what evidence can be presented to the jury.

Hunter Biden is accused of a scheme to avoid paying at least $1.4 million in taxes in the case headed for trial in September in Los Angeles. It’s the second criminal trial in just months for the president’s son, who was convicted in June of three felony charges in a separate federal case over the purchase of a gun in 2018.

Prosecutors and the defense have been fighting for weeks in court papers over what evidence and testimony jurors should be allowed to hear. Among the topics at issue is evidence related to Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, which have been at the center of Republican investigations into the Democratic president’s family.

Prosecutors say they will introduce evidence of Hunter Biden’s business dealings with a Chinese energy conglomerate, as well as money he made for serving on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma. Prosecutors say the evidence will show Hunter Biden “performed almost no work in exchange for the millions of dollars he received from these entities.”

Special counsel David Weiss’ team also plans to tell jurors about Hunter Biden’s work for a Romanian businessman, who prosecutors say sought to “influence U.S. government policy” while Joe Biden was vice president.

Prosecutors want to call as a witness a Hunter Biden business associate to testify about the arrangement with the Romanian businessman, Gabriel Popoviciu, who was seeking help from U.S. government agencies to end a criminal investigation he was facing in his home country, according to prosecutors.

Hunter Biden and his business associate were concerned their “lobbying work might cause political ramifications” for Joe Biden, so the arrangement was structured in a way that “concealed the true nature of the work” for Popoviciu, prosecutors allege. Prosecutors say Hunter and two business associates split more than $3 million from Popoviciu.

The defense has said evidence about his foreign business dealings is irrelevant to the tax charges and would only confuse jurors. They have accused prosecutors of inappropriately trying to insert “extraneous, politically-charged matters” into the trial.

Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers have indicated they will argue he didn’t act “willfully,” or with the intention to break the law. Pointing to Hunter Biden’s well-documented addiction struggles during those years, they’ve argued his drug and alcohol abuse impacted “his decision-making and judgment, such that Mr. Biden was unable to form the requisite intent to commit the crimes he has been charged with.”

Prosecutors have said that while avoiding his taxes, Hunter Biden was living an “extravagant lifestyle,” spending money on things like drugs, escorts, exotic cars and luxury hotels. The defense is urging the judge to keep those salacious allegations out of the trial.

“The Special Counsel may wish to introduce such evidence for the very reason that it is salacious and would pique the interest of the jury, but for the same reasons and because such evidence would distract the jury from the crimes charged, such information would also be highly prejudicial to Mr. Biden,” defense lawyers wrote in court papers.

Hunter Biden was supposed to plead guilty last year to misdemeanor tax offenses in a deal with prosecutors that would have allowed him to avoid prosecution in the gun case if he stayed out of trouble. But the plea deal fell apart after a Delaware federal judge raised concerns about it, and he was subsequently indicted in the two cases.

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Richer reported from Washington.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Canada’s Denis Shapovalov wins Belgrade Open for his second ATP Tour title

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BELGRADE, Serbia – Canada’s Denis Shapovalov is back in the winner’s circle.

The 25-year-old Shapovalov beat Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic 6-4, 6-4 in the Belgrade Open final on Saturday.

It’s Shapovalov’s second ATP Tour title after winning the Stockholm Open in 2019. He is the first Canadian to win an ATP Tour-level title this season.

His last appearance in a tournament final was in Vienna in 2022.

Shapovalov missed the second half of last season due to injury and spent most of this year regaining his best level of play.

He came through qualifying in Belgrade and dropped just one set on his way to winning the trophy.

Shapovalov’s best results this season were at ATP 500 events in Washington and Basel, where he reached the quarterfinals.

Medjedovic was playing in his first-ever ATP Tour final.

The 21-year-old, who won the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF title last year, ends 2024 holding a 9-8 tour-level record on the season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Talks to resume in B.C. port dispute in bid to end multi-day lockout

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VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.

The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.

The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.

The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.

The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.

MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.

In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.

“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.

“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”

In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.

“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.

The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.

“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”

The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.

The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.

A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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The Royal Canadian Legion turns to Amazon for annual poppy campaign boost

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The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.

Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.

Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.

Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.

“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.

“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”

Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.

“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.

Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.

“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”

But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.

Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.

“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.

Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.

The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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