The second son of President Joe Biden, Hunter Biden has had a long, varied, and privileged career. He’s also faced a number of tragedies and challenges, many of which have had a negative impact on his reputation and his paychecks. Today, the 51-year-old has chosen to remove himself from the world of finance and politics to focus on a more creative (but less lucrative) career path. Here’s a deep dive into Hunter Biden’s net worth, as well as a look at what he’s doing today.
Hunter Biden’s Family And Career
Born on February 4th, 1970, in Wilmington, Delaware, Hunter Biden was the second son President Joe Biden had with his first wife, Neilia Hunter Biden. Hunter had an older brother, Beau, as well as a younger sister named Naomi.
Tragically, both Neilia and Naomi were killed in a car crash in December 1972, when Hunter was just two years old. Beau and Hunter were also in the car but miraculously survived the accident. In 1977, Joe Biden married his second wife, Jill (now First Lady Jill Biden), who became stepmother to Beau and Hunter. She also had a daughter, Hunter’s half-sister Ashley, in 1981.
Hunter graduated from Georgetown University in 1992 and Yale Law School in 1996. His first job out of law school was at a bank holding company, where he worked his way up to executive vice president within two years. He then shifted his focus to politics, working on e-commerce policy at the United States Department of Commerce during President Bill Clinton’s administration.
In 2001, Hunter pivoted once again and became a lobbyist. He co-founded the firm Oldaker, Biden & Belair, which reportedly worked on accounts that brought in $470,000 in just six months. Five years later, he was appointed to the board of directors of Amtrak, which he served on until resigning in 2009, shortly after his father became vice president.
Over the next decade, Hunter founded and served on the boards of a number of investment and consultancy firms, including Paradigm Global Advisors and Rosemont Seneca Partners. He also had a brief stint in the Navy Reserves in 2012, however, two years later it was reported that he had been discharged from service after testing positive for cocaine.
His Scandals And Financial Troubles
After Hunter’s failed drug test with the Navy went public, he faced a number of other high-profile personal problems. His struggle with substance misuse worsened in 2015, after the tragic death of his 46-year-old brother Beau to brain cancer.
His 20-plus year marriage to Kathleen Buhle ended the same year and the split got ugly. According to reports detailing Kathleen’s divorce filing, Hunter allegedly favored partying over his family and blew tons of cash on his extracurricular activities. “His spending rarely relates to legitimate family expenses,” his ex alleged, “but focuses on his own travel (at times multiple hotel rooms on the same night), gifts for other women, alcohol, strip clubs, or other personal indulgences.”
There were also reports that Hunter’s name was included in a leak of users of AshleyMadison.com, a website designed to connect people looking to have affairs. Though Hunter denied the allegations, he had the press buzzing once again when he began dating his late brother’s widow, Hallie Biden, in the fall of 2015. That relationship lasted until 2019.
Also in 2019, Hunter was the subject of a paternity suit filed by an Arkansas woman named Lunden Alexis Roberts. DNA tests showed Hunter was indeed the father of her child, who was born in August of 2018. The case was settled in March of 2020, with Hunter agreeing to pay support retroactive to 2018. Hunter went on to have another child in 2020 with Melissa Cohen, a South African filmmaker he married in 2019.
Hunter was plagued with more problems in late 2020. Shortly before his father was to be sworn in as the nation’s 46th president, Hunter revealed he was under investigation by federal prosecutors in Delaware for his tax activities. Reports based on court documents claimed Hunter and his ex-wife Kathleen Buhle owed over $100,00 in back taxes and penalties. Records also showed that Hunter had separate liens against him in the District of Columbia for $450,00 in back taxes for 2017 and 2018, though those liens were canceled just a few days after they were filed.
Hunter Biden’s Net Worth
According to CelebrityNetWorth.com, Hunter Biden’s net worth is $1 million. While we can only speculate, this low number indicates that his legal issues, tax troubles, and alleged partying have certainly taken a toll on his wealth. Hunter earned hefty paychecks for his many high-profile jobs over the years, including a reported $50,000 a month during the five years he served on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings. According to Newsweek, Hunter earned an annual salary of $1.2 million while at Paradigm Global Advisors, a hedge fund he worked at for five years.
Clearly his tax debts made an dent on his net worth, as well as his divorce. In a 2019 interview with the New Yorker, Hunter said he’d been paying his ex-wife $37,000 a month in alimony and child support for a decade. And this was before his 2020 paternity settlement, in which he was ordered to pay an undisclosed amount of child support to Lunden Alexis Roberts.
Finally, his current job is not quite as lucrative as his financial and political career once was, so we can only assume his yearly income has taken a huge hit. Currently, Hunter works full-time as an artist. According to ArtNet News, prices for his paintings range from $75,000 to $500,000.