Hunter Biden Faces Fresh Allegations Despite Presidential Pardon

Just days after President Joe Biden issued a sweeping, unconditional pardon for his son Hunter Biden, new controversy has emerged — this time over allegations of unpaid rent totaling more than $300,000.

Venture capitalist Shaun Maguire, a partner at Sequoia Capital, took to social media to accuse Hunter Biden of owing his family hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid rent dating back to 2019 and 2020. The property in question is a luxury home in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles, reportedly rented at $25,000 per month.

“So what happens to the $300k+ in back rent that Hunter Biden owes my family from 2019–2020?” Maguire wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “Is that pardoned now? Thanks, Joe.”

Maguire claimed that during Hunter’s tenancy at their family-owned property, rent went unpaid for over a year. The situation allegedly worsened when Hunter changed the locks and leveraged Secret Service protection to block the owners from accessing their own property. In a scathing post, Maguire described the president’s son as having once attempted to pay rent with “art made from his own feces,” adding, “Absolute s—bag.”

The recent presidential pardon granted by Joe Biden was intended to cover all federal offenses — real or potential — committed by Hunter between January 1, 2014, and December 1, 2024. It included his federal firearm charges and tax-related cases. However, Maguire’s allegations fall into a different legal category — civil litigation — and therefore are not affected by the presidential pardon.

When questioned by a follower online about why eviction proceedings were not pursued, Maguire suggested that challenging the Bidens legally would be intimidating: “They’re kind of a scary family to go after,” he replied.

This isn’t the first time Hunter Biden has faced accusations of unpaid rent. In a 2024 report by DailyMail.com, Hunter was said to have owed approximately $80,000 in back rent to Jonathan Neman, CEO and co-founder of Sweetgreen, for another property in Venice, California. That dispute reportedly involved a $25,000-a-month lease, with roughly three months of rent unpaid.

The pardon issued by President Biden has sparked widespread backlash — not only from political opponents but also from within the federal judiciary. U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi, a Trump appointee who oversaw Hunter’s federal tax case, issued a sharply worded response to the president’s clemency action.

In a five-page ruling, Judge Scarsi wrote that the president’s public statements surrounding the pardon “stand in tension with the case record.” He rejected President Biden’s claim that his son was “treated differently” due to his addiction and called such remarks damaging to the credibility of numerous public servants.

“The President asserts that Mr. Biden ‘was treated differently’ from others ‘who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions,’ implying that Mr. Biden was among those individuals who untimely paid taxes due to addiction,” Scarsi wrote. “But he is not.”

Scarsi emphasized that two separate federal judges had found no evidence of political targeting or special treatment in the investigation or prosecution of Hunter Biden. He pointed out that the Department of Justice, led by Attorney General Merrick Garland — a Biden appointee — had overseen the case, making claims of bias or targeting especially unfounded.

The judge also took issue with the scope of the pardon itself, criticizing the inclusion of December 1, 2024, as the end date of potential crimes being pardoned. In his view, that raised constitutional concerns, as it suggested a preemptive pardon for acts that may not have occurred yet.

“It’s not my role to decide whether the President has violated the Constitution,” Scarsi wrote, “but granting clemency for potential future conduct raises serious legal and ethical questions.”

Despite the legal exoneration granted by the pardon, the court of public opinion remains deeply divided. The image of Hunter Biden — surrounded by Secret Service agents while allegedly locking out his landlords — is likely to feed further criticism from the president’s opponents.

Meanwhile, conservative commentators and Republican lawmakers have seized on the pardon and the new rent allegations to reinforce their claims of favoritism and misuse of presidential powers. Calls for congressional investigations into the president’s actions are growing louder.

President Biden, for his part, has remained largely silent following the backlash. His press team has declined to respond to the rent allegations, instead reiterating that the pardon was issued to provide a “fresh start” for his son, whom he has described as a survivor of addiction and personal tragedy.

As Hunter Biden moves forward, free from federal criminal liability, his past financial and personal controversies continue to follow him — and for some, raise deeper questions about accountability, privilege, and justice.