This blog entry will alert Tax Crimes fans to an article about, well, tax crimes. Andrey Spektor, Opinion: What Hunter Biden and Donald Trump have in common (CNN 3/13/24), here. Spektor is identified in the article as “Having worked with the Department of Justice Tax Division and prosecuted tax offenses.” His law firm bio, here, mentions only AUSA experience for EDNY and does not mention DOJ Tax Division experience; I infer that, as a prosecutor on tax cases in USAO EDNY, he would have “worked” with the Tax Division which is common. So he has credibility to speak to the how criminal prosecution decisions are made (or not made) in politically charged cases such as Hunter Biden’s and Donald Trump’s.
The article is fairly short, engaging, well-written, and, based on my experience in the tax crimes area, very credible. As to Hunter Biden, Spektor claims (rightly, I think) that Hunter Biden would not have been prosecuted on the facts had he not been related to Joe Biden, the President, and decisions influenced by the press and politics. I offer the conclusion in the hope that offering the conclusion will not discourage anyone from reading the article:
Hunter Biden has been treated differently from almost any other person save for, perhaps, Trump – at least in New York, where the former president has been indicted on a novel and shaky legal theory reserved for it seems, Trump. That doesn’t mean that Trump or Hunter Biden are [sic - is] innocent; indeed, the former has more serious cases to contend with. But unequal treatment of our citizens, no matter how unethical or despicable they may be, is just as immoral.
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