In a recent development in the ongoing tax investigation involving Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, a series of emails and court filings have revealed a contentious exchange between the legal teams representing Hunter Biden and the House of Representatives. The dispute revolves around the alleged misrepresentation of information to a court clerk, leading to the removal of a key filing from the public docket.
The controversy began when Theodore Katella, an attorney representing the House, filed a motion containing information about Hunter Biden’s case. In response, Richie Jones, presumably from Hunter Biden’s legal team, requested that the filing be sealed immediately, citing the inclusion of confidential taxpayer information.
However, William Green, another attorney for the House, refused to seal the filing, arguing that all the information included was already publicly available and hosted on the government’s website. This led to a heated exchange of emails between the two sides, with Hunter Biden’s legal team threatening to move to seal the filing and reserve all rights.
The situation escalated when Katella discovered that the filing had been removed from the public docket. He alleged that someone from Hunter Biden’s team had contacted the court unilaterally and misrepresented the situation, leading to the removal of the filing. In response, Christopher Clark, another lawyer for Hunter Biden, denied any wrongdoing and threatened to seek sanctions against Katella’s team.
The court clerk, Samantha Grimes, confirmed that she had received a call from Jessica Bengals, a managing attorney from Latham and Watkins, the law firm representing Hunter Biden. Bengals had requested the removal of the filing or the filing of a motion to seal, citing the inclusion of personal tax information. Grimes, under the impression that Bengals was working with Katella’s firm, removed the filing from the docket.
In a letter to the court, Matthew Salerno, another attorney from Hunter Biden’s team, described the incident as an “unfortunate and unintentional miscommunication” and denied any intent to mislead the court. He also provided an affidavit from Bengals, who confirmed her conversation with the court clerk but denied any misrepresentation.
The incident has raised questions about the conduct of Hunter Biden’s legal team and the removal of the filing from the public docket. The court has yet to decide on any potential sanctions or further actions in response to the incident.
