Hunter Biden Facing New Accusation After Presidential Pardon
Following an "unconditional pardon" from President Joe Biden, Hunter Biden is now under scrutiny for allegedly owing over $300,000 in unpaid rent to former landlords.
Shaun Maguire, a partner at Sequoia, a prominent venture capital firm, shared his reaction to the pardon on social media, accusing the president’s son of failing to pay substantial rent debts. Maguire claimed these unpaid amounts, which accumulated between 2019 and 2020, totaled "hundreds of thousands of dollars."
“So what happens to the $300k+ in back pay rent that Hunter Biden owes my family from 2019-2020? Is that pardoned now? Thanks Joe,” Maguire wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
On Sunday, President Biden granted a "full and unconditional pardon" to his son, covering potential federal crimes committed between January 1, 2014, and December 1, 2024. This action includes charges Hunter faced for tax violations and alleged false statements regarding his substance abuse on a firearm background check form. The decision contrasts sharply with President Biden’s previous assertions that he would not pardon his son.
Maguire further elaborated, stating, “Hunter was our tenant in Venice, CA. Didn’t pay rent for over a year. Tried to pay w/ art made from his own feces. Absolute s– bag.” He revealed in a follow-up post that the rent for the Venice property, located on the city’s canals, was $25,000 per month, as reported by Fox Business.
Maguire also alleged that Hunter “changed the locks and used Secret Service to enforce. We had no access to the property.” When questioned on social media about whether his family had attempted to evict Hunter, Maguire responded, stating that the Bidens are “kind of a scary family to go after.”
While the allegations of unpaid rent would be considered a civil issue and not covered by the presidential pardon—which applies solely to federal crimes—Maguire’s accusations are not the first of their kind. Reports last year suggested that Hunter Biden also owed $80,000 in unpaid rent to Sweetgreen CEO Jonathan Neman, for a similar $25,000-a-month Venice home, as reported by DailyMail.com.
Meanwhile, a federal judge recently concluded Hunter Biden's tax case following the pardon, but not without strongly criticizing the president's announcement. In a five-page order, U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi of the Central District of California—a Trump appointee—stated that “representations contained” in President Biden’s pardon announcement “stand in tension with the case record.”
The judge added that the president's statement seemed misleading, claiming it had offended many public officials. Scarsi argued that the pardon effectively allowed "hours of unacceptable behavior in the future without permission."
“The President asserts that Mr. Biden ‘was treated differently’ from others ‘who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions,’ implying that Mr. Biden was among those individuals who untimely paid taxes due to addiction,” Scarsi wrote. “But he is not.”
Scarsi also challenged President Biden’s assertion that his son was "singled out" or "treated differently," suggesting this implied that legal officials, including the president's own Department of Justice, acted improperly.
“Two federal judges expressly rejected Mr. Biden’s arguments that the Government prosecuted Mr. Biden because of his familial relation to the President,” Scarsi wrote. “And the President’s own Attorney General and Department of Justice personnel oversaw the investigation leading to the charges. In the President’s estimation, this legion of federal civil servants, the undersigned included, are unreasonable people.”
While Scarsi acknowledged it was not his role to determine the pardon’s legality, he criticized its scope, suggesting it may conflict with constitutional boundaries by shielding Hunter Biden from "future crimes."