Hunter Biden will no longer go to trial for felony tax evasion after he agreed to plead guilty to nine charges related to his failure to file and pay his taxes between 2016 and 2019. The ugly trial, which was expected to last two to three weeks, would have been deeply embarrassing for the president’s family as details about the first son’s tumultuous personal life spilled out into the open. 

Judge Mark Scarsi of the Central District of California accepted Biden’s plea of guilty on Thursday afternoon, the same day jury selection was due to begin.

On Thursday morning, Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, informed Judge Scarsi that the first son would change his plea to what is known as an “Alford Plea” after originally pleading not guilty. CNN reports that, after considering the offer, prosecutors asked the judge to deny the change of plea in court on Thursday. Biden then came back with a counteroffer: he would plead guilty on all counts in order to avoid a trial, which would no doubt be embarrassing for him and his family as the government spent days or weeks going through sordid details of his personal life, including his relationships with prostitutes and his years-long drug and alcohol addiction. 

Biden’s attorneys had previously worked on an agreement with Special Counsel David Weiss in 2023 to allow the first son to plead guilty to alleged tax crimes and his illegal purchase of a firearm while addicted to drugs and avoid prison time. The deal collapsed however after it came under criticism from GOP members of Congress as a “sweetheart deal” and a judge in Delaware rejected that plea agreement. Biden would go on to be convicted in the firearms case. He has yet to be sentenced in the matter and could face prison.

The White House reaffirmed on Thursday that the president would not consider pardoning his son or commuting his sentence. During a gaggle with the press aboard Air Force One, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked again about the possibility of some relief for the first son, but she reiterated her past statement that no such relief would come. 

“It’s no. It’s still no,” she said when asked about a pardon. “I don’t have anything else. I’m not able to comment on it.”

The tax trial would have been a deeply embarrassing moments for Biden, his father, and the rest of his family. Prosecutors alleged that he dodged more than $1.4 million in taxes from 2016 to 2019 while he was making millions by doing consulting work for entities in Communist China, Ukraine and Romania, among other countries. During that same time, prosecutors say Biden spent more than $1 million cash withdrawals from banks and hundreds of thousands of dollars on payments to “various women.” 

Now that he’s pleaded guilty, Biden could face up to 17 years in prison and a hefty fine, though given this is his first tax offense, it is unlikely he would get a punishment anywhere near that maximum. He is also set to be sentenced in Delaware either in September or October for his illegal purchase of a firearm, though the judge in that case has yet to set a firm date.