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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/attorney-says-feds-subpoenaed-hunter-biden-paternity-records-tax-returns/ar-AAWsro6?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=0595b81d11fe42f2b8a8657472292187
CBS News
Attorney says feds subpoenaed Hunter Biden paternity records, tax returns
Andrew Bast - 1h ago
Prosecutors investigating Hunter Biden subpoenaed documents from a paternity lawsuit that included tax records for the president's son, according to documents and an attorney involved in the matter.
"They wanted every record relating to Hunter Biden we had," Clint Lancaster told CBS News. Lancaster represented Lunden Roberts, a woman who filed suit against Hunter Biden in 2019 alleging he was the father of her child.
A December 2020 subpoena from the U.S. Attorney's office in Delaware, obtained by CBS News, requested all documents "regarding [Hunter] Biden's income, assets, debts, obligations, and financial transactions… and all personal and business expenditures." The request specified January 2017 to the present.
The subpoena also requested a wide range of tax documents pertaining to Hunter Biden.
"All federal, state, local and foreign tax documentation related to Biden," the subpoena reads, "including but not limited to, IRS Forms 1099, income and payroll tax returns, state tax returns, and amended tax returns."
Hunter Biden's personal and business conduct have been the subject of scrutiny — and the target of Republican political attacks — since the earliest days of the 2020 presidential campaign.
The move by federal authorities to obtain these records offers a new, if narrow, glimpse into the long-running investigation into the president's son — a probe that began as a tax inquiry several years ago.
Lancaster told CBS News that in the fall of 2021, the Assistant U.S. Attorney in Delaware, Lesley Wolf, traveled to his Arkansas law office, joined by at least two federal agents, one from the FBI and the other an IRS enforcement agent. Lancaster said he and his client spent about half a day answering questions about Hunter Biden and his business practices.
Lancaster said that in the meeting, investigators asked for information about several companies affiliated with Hunter Biden, including Rosemont Seneca Partners, a firm where he worked for several years.
The line of questioning tracks with a separate 2019 federal subpoena from the U.S. Attorney's office in Delaware. The subpoena, obtained by CBS News, sought "all records, documents and accounts pertaining to all financial/banking transactions" between 15 business entities and Hunter Biden, the president's brother James, as well as two business partners dating back to 2014, when Joe Biden was vice president.
Lancaster said that during the paternity suit Hunter Biden had supplied an "affidavit of financial means," which detailed his finances through income statements and a breakdown of monthly expenses.
Lancaster said the tax records he and his client supplied overlapped with the time period of Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings.
Roberts testified before a Delaware grand jury in February of this year, according to her lawyer.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/court-lets-challenge-against-former-overstock-ceo-move-forward-here-s-where-dominion-and-smartmatic-s-defamation-suits-stand-now/ar-AAUQpS0?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=0595b81d11fe42f2b8a8657472292187
Forbes
Court Lets Challenge Against Former Overstock CEO Move Forward—Here’s Where Dominion And Smartmatic’s Defamation Suits Stand Now
Alison Durkee, Forbes Staff - 1h ago
Voting company Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne can move forward, a judge ruled Wednesday, as Dominion and rival company Smartmatic pursue 11 defamation lawsuits over baseless election fraud claims about their voting machines.
Key Facts
U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols ruled Dominion had a defamation case against Byrne and “that a reasonable jury could find Byrne acted with actual malice” in spreading provably false assertions about Dominion and its voting machines.
Dominion sued Byrne, who has become known for spreading election conspiracy theories after stepping down from Overstock in 2019, in August, alleging the businessman “manufactured and promoted fake evidence to convince the world that the 2020 election had been stolen” using Dominion voting machines, and accused him of doing so in order to boost his own investments in blockchain voting technology.
Denver-based Dominion filed its first lawsuit in January against pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell, who has been the most prominent person spreading the fraud claims, seeking $1.3 billion in damages, and Nichols denied Powell’s motion to dismiss the case in August.
Nichols also ruled lawsuits Dominion filed against attorney Rudy Giuliani, MyPillow and its CEO Mike Lindell can move forward—though the cases against them and Powell may not go to trial until late 2023 or 2024, based on a schedule the judge set in early March.
Dominion sued Fox News in March 2021 alleging the network had knowingly spread false news about its machines to improve failing ratings, and a Delaware state judge denied Fox’s motion to dismiss the case in December.
Dominion sued One America News Network (OANN) and anchors Chanel Rion and Christina Bobb in federal court and Newsmax in Delaware state court in August, alleging the two far-right networks promoted fraud allegations on their network knowing they were false and “​​helped create and cultivate an alternate reality where up is down, pigs have wings, and Dominion engaged in a colossal fraud to steal the presidency from Donald Trump by rigging the vote.”
Smartmatic sued Fox News and its anchors Lou Dobbs and Maria Bartiromo in February 2021, alleging the defendants “engaged in a conspiracy to spread disinformation about Smartmatic,” and New York Supreme Court Justice David B. Cohen ruled in March that the $2.7 billion lawsuit can move forward against those defendants.
Cohen dismissed Smartmatic’s allegations against Powell and Fox anchor Jeanine Pirro, and dismissed some claims against Giuliani but let others move forward.
Smartmatic has separately sued Powell in federal court, which is still pending.
Smartmatic sued MyPillow and Lindell in January for defamation and deceptive trade practices in federal court, alleging the CEO spread “lies” about the company and “intentionally stoked the fires of xenophobia and party-divide for the noble purpose of selling his pillows.”
Smartmatic also sued OANN in federal court and Newsmax in Delaware state court in November, alleging both networks “reported a lie” and spread fraud claims about the company—whose machines were only used in California in 2020—knowing they were false; those lawsuits and Lindell’s suit are still pending.
What To Watch For
It’s unclear whether additional lawsuits will still be filed, but Dominion has identified more than 150 people as potential targets of litigation, and it sent letters to preserve evidence and warning of potential litigation to right-wing figures including pro-Trump attorney Lin Wood Melissa Carone, who Giuliani has promoted as a witness to supposed voter fraud efforts. The company sent letters to social media networks in February 2021 asking them to preserve posts from Trump and his campaign, as well as from Trump allies including former Trump advisor Michael Flynn, Pirro, Trump campaign attorney Jenna Ellis and far-right political commentator Dan Bongino. Dominion attorney Stephen Shackelford confirmed to reporters in August the company is still considering bringing additional lawsuits, saying the company is “still exploring options” as to how to hold others accountable and has “not ruled out other parties.”