Mac Isaac states that the FBI initially made a forensic copy of the laptop and later returned with a subpoena to seize it. In December 2019, Mac Isaac received a subpoena to testify in the U.S. District Court in Delaware. The FBI’s property receipt for the laptop, obtained by Fox News Digital in 2020, contained a handwritten “Case ID” number: 272D-BA-3065729. According to FBI documents, “272” is the classification for money laundering, and “272D” specifically refers to “Money Laundering, Unknown SUA—White Collar Crime Program,” indicating a potential transnational or blanket activity. Hunter Biden’s anticipated deposition follows the recent announcement by the Justice Department of his plea agreement, resulting from U.S. Attorney David Weiss’ extensive investigation into his tax-related matters. Hunter Biden is expected to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax, and he has agreed to a pretrial diversion agreement regarding a separate charge related to firearm possession by an unlawful user of controlled substances. This plea agreement is anticipated to help him avoid imprisonment. Hunter Biden is scheduled to appear in court for the first time on July 26
In the meantime, an IRS whistleblower who provided testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee revealed that federal investigators were aware in December 2019 that Hunter Biden’s laptop had not been tampered with and contained credible evidence. However, they faced obstacles in accessing all the available information. This occurred almost a year before former intelligence officials and Joe Biden himself claimed that the laptop was part of a Russian disinformation campaign.
Gary Shapley Jr., the whistleblower and supervisor of the IRS investigation, stated that throughout the Hunter Biden probe, decisions were consistently made to favor the subject of the investigation. The investigation, code-named “Sportsman,” originated in November 2018 as a spin-off of an IRS inquiry into a foreign online pornography platform. The testimony provided by Shapley did not provide additional details on the connection between the pornography outlet and Biden. Previously, it was believed that the investigation was based on suspicious foreign transactions.
Almost a year after the initial incident, in October 2019, Shapely stated that the FBI became aware of a laptop allegedly belonging to Hunter Biden at a repair shop, which potentially held evidence of a crime. Shapely further revealed that in November 2019, the FBI confirmed its authenticity by matching the device number with Hunter Biden’s Apple iCloud ID. When the FBI seized the laptop in December 2019, they informed the IRS that it likely contained evidence related to tax crimes.
