Hunter Biden's secret multi-million dollar legal battle revealed

Hunter Biden has quietly been embroiled in years of court battles and multi-million-dollar debts at the same time his alleged crimes are in the spotlight, according to a report. 

While the First Son is set to face a criminal trial next week over felony gun violations, Hunter, 54, has also been slapped with several damning rulings in recent years that slipped under the radar, reports Axios. 

This included a ruling in January 2021, shortly after his father's presidential inauguration, that found he owed his ex-wife Kathleen Buhle over $1.7 million in alimony, legal fees and interest following their 2017 divorce. 

The revelations come as Buhle is expected to be a key witness in Hunter's upcoming trial, where he is accused of lying on federal background checks about his crack cocaine addiction when he bought a gun in 2018. 

Hunter Biden (pictured arriving at a court appearance on May 24, 2024) has been quietly embroiled in years of court battles and multi-million-dollar debts

Hunter's ex-wife Kathleen Buhle (pictured together in 2016) claims that the First Son owes her at least $1.7 million in unpaid debts 

Buhle's testimony is expected to include intimate details of his finances and drug use, which was once described by his ex-girlfriend Zoe Kestan - who is also set to testify - as smoking crack cocaine 'every 20 minutes except when he slept.' 

And according to previously reported divorce filings, Buhle made no secret of her contempt for Hunter's alleged wild lifestyle. 

She said her ex-husband spent 'extravagantly on his own interests (including drugs, alcohol, prostitutes, strip clubs, and gifts for women with whom he has sexual relations), while leaving the family with no funds to pay legitimate bills.' 

Hunter's trial next week is likely to include embarrassing details of the presidential family, with Buhle likely to testify over their marriage and Hunter's admitted drug addiction. 

However, while the gun trial begins next week, the newly revealed legal battle, first shared by Axios, appears to pertain more to his second trial in Los Angeles in September, centered around over $1.4 million in allegedly unpaid federal taxes from 2016 to 2019. 

During their bitter divorce, Buhle claimed that Hunter would spend extravagantly on 'drugs, alcohol, prostitutes, strip clubs, and gifts for women with whom he has sexual relations, while leaving the family with no funds to pay legitimate bills' 

The former couple have been in and out of courtrooms for years, with Buhle successfully suing Hunter in civil court back in June 2019, claiming he broke their divorce agreement. 

In their divorce agreement, Hunter was ordered to pay Buhle $37,000 a month in alimony payments, plus 50 percent of any earnings over $875,000 per year. 

According to the newly released records, Hunter failed to pay any of the additional spousal support he owed in 2017 and 2018, despite earning $2.4 and $2.1 million respectively in those years. 

He also stopped paying Buhle's monthly alimony after she sued him in June 2019, contributing further to his unpaid debts. 

Hunter's legal team claimed he stopped paying when his funds run out amid his drug addiction, however the court determined that he owed Buhle at least $1.1 million plus 6 percent interest for the unpaid 2017 and 2018 years. 

Following his divorce, Hunter moved on with his late brother Beau's ex-wife, before getting hitched to his current wife, filmmaker Melissa Cohen Biden (pictured together in May 2024) 

Their legal battle grew more hostile during Hunter's father's presidential campaign in 2020, when Buhle's attorneys filed for holding Hunter in contempt over a missed $259,000 payment. 

This led Hunter's attorneys to claim Buhle was using the presidential race to blackmail Hunter into making payments. 

As recently as April 2023, Buhle claimed that Biden only paid her $35,815 in 2022, at a time when a court appointed special master was called in to adjudicate the case. 

In that filing, it was claimed that Hunter owed his ex-wife a staggering total of $2.9 million.