Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden, has asked a court to dismiss his lawsuit against former Trump aide Garrett Ziegler, citing financial difficulties that have made it impossible for him to continue the legal battle.
In a court filing on Wednesday, Biden admitted that his primary sources of income—art and book sales—have largely dried up, leaving him unable to afford the legal expenses necessary to pursue the case. "While I believe in the merits of this case, and, indeed, note that Defendant Garrett Ziegler admitted to hacking my iCloud in multiple public statements, I am requesting to dismiss this action because I do not have the financial resources to continue litigating this case," Biden stated in the filing.
Financial Troubles Mount for Hunter Biden
Biden disclosed that his financial situation has significantly worsened since late 2023. Over the past several months, he has only managed to sell one piece of art for $36,000 and approximately 1,100 copies of his memoir Beautiful Things. This is a steep drop from his previous earnings, where he sold 27 artworks at an average price of $54,481 each and 3,161 copies of his book in the six months prior.
Beyond lost income, Biden is also grappling with millions of dollars in debts, though he did not specify the total amount owed. Adding to his troubles, the wildfires that recently ravaged California’s Pacific Palisades rendered his rental home uninhabitable, forcing him to search for a new place to live. Biden has been residing in California with his wife, Melissa Cohen, and their young son, Beau.
Biden explained that it wasn’t until the past month that he fully realized the severity of his financial decline. "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," he stated.
End of Art Career and Financial Support
Biden’s declining finances coincide with the loss of his primary benefactors. His art dealer, Georges Berges, testified before Congress in January that he chose not to renew his contract with Biden in September 2023, citing business concerns and the political controversy surrounding the arrangement.
Biden’s art sales totaled around $1.5 million, with a significant portion purchased by his close friend and financial backer, entertainment lawyer Kevin Morris. According to congressional testimony, Morris provided Biden with $6.5 million in financial support between October 2021 and December 2023. The money, structured as loans, was initially set to be repaid starting this year.
Legal and Political Pressure Intensifies
Biden’s financial downturn coincides with a series of legal and political battles. Last year, excerpts from Beautiful Things were used against him in his federal gun case, which led to a conviction in Delaware on three felony charges. During the trial, prosecutors presented Biden’s physical laptop as evidence, with FBI agent Erica Jensen testifying about how investigators verified its authenticity.
The laptop’s contents have long been a source of controversy, with Republicans citing its materials as evidence of Biden’s foreign business dealings and lavish spending habits. The House GOP’s impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, along with Special Counsel David Weiss’s tax indictment against Hunter Biden, has only increased scrutiny on the younger Biden.
Weiss’s prosecution followed whistleblower testimony from IRS officials Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, who alleged misconduct in the Justice Department’s handling of the tax investigation into Hunter Biden. Their revelations ultimately led to the collapse of Biden’s plea deal in 2023, which would have resolved his tax and gun charges with minimal consequences.
In September 2024, Biden pleaded guilty to nine tax-related charges stemming from his failure to pay over $1.4 million in taxes during the previous decade. However, his father, then-President Joe Biden, issued a sweeping pardon in December that covered all gun and tax-related offenses committed between January 1, 2014, and December 1, 2024.
Biden’s Lawsuit Against Ziegler
Hunter Biden’s lawsuit against Garrett Ziegler accused the former Trump aide of hacking into his iCloud and laptop backups, manipulating data, and publicly disseminating private information. Ziegler, who has denied altering any materials, runs the nonprofit Marco Polo, which compiled a publicly available database of Biden’s laptop contents.
Marco Polo also produced a 600-page report detailing Biden’s foreign business dealings, which has circulated among Republican lawmakers. The database was created after Ziegler obtained a copy of the laptop hard drive, a move that coincided with Rudy Giuliani providing a similar copy to The New York Post, which published explosive stories about the laptop’s contents ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
Ziegler’s legal team has pushed back against Biden’s claims, arguing that he failed to provide sufficient evidence of data manipulation and was using the lawsuit as a means of silencing their client. In response to Biden’s request to dismiss the case, Ziegler’s attorneys are demanding that Biden pay roughly $200,000 in legal fees and that the case be dismissed with prejudice—meaning it cannot be refiled in the future.
A Tumultuous Future
With his lawsuit abandoned and financial difficulties mounting, Hunter Biden faces an uncertain future. His art career appears to have stalled, his book sales have slowed, and his legal troubles have left him with significant debts. As Republican lawmakers continue their impeachment inquiry into his father and legal scrutiny remains high, Biden’s ability to recover financially remains uncertain.
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