Just six weeks after his father left the White House, Hunter Biden is reportedly broke again. The on-again, off-again artist and recovering drug addict informed a judge that declining art sales and the destruction of his home in the Palisades, California wildfires have left him financially destitute. The revelation came as part of Hunter Biden’s request to dismiss a lawsuit he had originally filed against a Trump ally, alleging violations of state and federal laws.
Continuing the legal battle, Biden stated, is no longer financially viable due to the “significant debt” he has accumulated while “litigating the case” against Garrett Ziegler, the founder of Marco Polo, a company that published a comprehensive list of documents and photographs found on Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop, creating an online searchable database.
“[Hunter] has suffered a significant downturn in his income and has significant debt in the millions of dollars range,” attorneys for the former first son wrote in a recent California court filing. The situation was “exacerbated” by the devastating destruction of his Palisades home in the fiery, windswept wildfires, leaving it “unlivable”—a significant understatement, considering photographs that show only a charred foundation, with nothing left standing except a brick chimney.
“Like many others in that situation, I am having difficulty in finding a new permanent place to live,” Biden claimed in the motion. “While I was aware that my financial position had significantly deteriorated over time, it was not until the past month that I realized I had to take drastic actions to alleviate this situation.” Biden also explained that he is struggling with both art and book sales. His 2021 memoir, “Beautiful Things”, is not selling well, and the steady flow of art purchases that occurred while his father was president has dried up entirely.
“In the 2 to 3 years prior to December 2023, I sold 27 pieces of art at an average price of $54,481.48, but since then, I have only sold 1 piece of art for $36,000,” he argued in the motion, according to the NY Post. “Similarly, for my book sales, in the six month period before the statements (April 1, 2023 through September 30, 2023), based on the September 30, 2023 statement, 3,161 copies of my book were sold, but in the six months after the statements, only approximately 1,100 books were sold.”
“Given the positive feedback and reviews of my artwork and memoir, I was expecting to obtain paid speaking engagements and paid appearances, but that has not happened,” he continued. The lawsuit against Ziegler was initially filed in 2023, with Hunter Biden accusing the former aide to Trump advisor Peter Navarro of illegally accessing the contents of his laptop and posting them online. Many of the photographs, including images of Biden smoking crack pipes or being surrounded by prostitutes, were already made public during initial reporting by the New York Post in 2020.
