Hunter Biden told a deposition interviewer that his family "doesn't have any money" and that he owns no car, no phone, and no assets of value, a sworn claim that strains belief for a man who once pulled a seven-figure salary from a Ukrainian energy company.
The deposition transcript, taken in February and released in recent days by Biden's new legal team, surfaced as part of an ongoing lawsuit brought by the law firm Winston Taylor. The firm says Biden owes $17 million for legal work spanning his criminal prosecutions, congressional investigations, and defamation cases. Fox News Digital reported that representatives for both Hunter Biden and former President Joe Biden declined to comment.
The younger Biden's claim of total insolvency, delivered under oath, raises a straightforward question: where did all the money go?
Biden's own words in the deposition leave little room for ambiguity. He told Winston Taylor's attorneys:
"My family doesn't have any money, and it's not their debt anyway. I don't own anything of any value other than, and I don't know the value of it, my paintings which I painted myself. So, that's it. And I don't even have any other assets at all, stocks, bonds, anything like that, savings accounts."
He went further still.
"I don't have any assets. I don't own a car. I don't own a phone."
Biden also argued that Winston Taylor knew he would be unable to pay legal fees when the firm agreed to represent him. He claimed the two sides had agreed to "work something out." The firm, evidently, sees it differently, to the tune of $17 million.
That figure alone is staggering. Winston Taylor did not represent Biden in a single minor matter. The firm handled his defense across multiple federal criminal prosecutions, high-profile congressional investigations, and defamation litigation. Those are the kinds of cases that generate enormous billable hours, and the firm now wants every dollar.
Biden is not entirely without legal victories. A judge awarded him $1.7 million in a defamation suit against Patrick Byrne, the Overstock CEO, in July. But collecting that judgment has proved difficult, Byrne is believed to be overseas.
Winston Taylor has moved to put a lien on that $1.7 million award. If the firm succeeds, Biden's biggest courtroom win would go straight to paying down a fraction of the legal debt he insists he cannot cover. Even if the lien is granted and the money collected, it would barely dent the $17 million tab.
Biden's financial and legal troubles have become a recurring feature of his post-White House life.
Winston Taylor even tried to connect Biden with donors in the Democratic fundraising network to help cover the bills. The fact that the firm resorted to matchmaking between its own client and party donors underscores how far the situation had deteriorated before litigation.
Biden's insolvency claim sits uneasily beside his financial history. He earned a seven-figure salary while serving on the board of Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company whose hiring of the then-vice president's son drew years of scrutiny and congressional investigation.
Beyond the Burisma income, Biden reportedly spent large sums over the years on crack cocaine, alcohol, luxury hotels, prostitutes, and expensive jewelry, including gifts for his brother's widow. That spending pattern, widely documented in federal investigations and media reporting, makes his current claim of zero assets all the more difficult to square.
Biden has publicly addressed some of his personal struggles in recent months, at one point calling himself "grateful" for his addiction and the leaked personal photos that became tabloid staples.
The timeline is worth pausing on. A man who earned seven figures from a foreign energy company, who was the subject of federal prosecutions serious enough to require a massive legal defense, and who won a $1.7 million court judgment now says he has nothing, not even a phone.
Hunter Biden's claim that his family has no money finds partial echo in reporting about his father's finances. The Wall Street Journal reported in September 2025 that former President Joe Biden has had more difficulty cashing in on his post-presidential status than his predecessors.
A source familiar with the elder Biden's finances told reporters that upon leaving office, the former president had accrued roughly $800,000 in personal debt. He also faced increased property taxes on his $2.7 million Delaware home. His trouble booking paid speaking engagements has been attributed to his unpopularity and to corporate fears of angering President Donald Trump.
Still, Joe Biden is not exactly destitute. The National Taxpayers Union Foundation has noted that the former president pulls in more than $400,000 a year in government pensions earned through decades in Congress and his time in the White House. That is a comfortable income by any standard, though it does not cover a $17 million legal bill racked up by his son.
A federal judge's recent rejection of Biden's attempt to block the release of recorded conversations with his biographer has added another layer of legal exposure for the family.
Neither Biden responded to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
The core dispute is simple enough. Winston Taylor did the legal work. The bills came due. Biden says he cannot pay and argues the firm should have known that going in. The firm disagrees and is now pursuing every available dollar, including the defamation judgment Biden won against Byrne.
Biden's argument, that his lawyers knew he was broke when they took the case, is a remarkable position for a client to take under oath. It amounts to saying: you knew I couldn't afford you, so you can't complain now. Whether a court finds that persuasive remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Biden has relocated overseas while carrying the weight of this debt, a move that does little to suggest a man focused on resolving his obligations.
Several open questions hang over the case. Has the lien on the $1.7 million judgment been granted? What court is handling the Winston Taylor lawsuit, and what is its current status? Who are Biden's "new lawyers," and how is he paying them if he truly has no assets? None of these details have been publicly resolved.
The Supreme Court's unanimous rejection of the federal gun statute used to prosecute Biden may have removed one legal burden, but the financial wreckage from years of investigations and litigation clearly remains.
Hunter Biden's deposition paints a picture of a man with nothing left, no car, no phone, no savings, no stocks, nothing but paintings he made himself. His lawyers released the transcript, presumably because they believe it helps his case.
But the record tells a different story than the one Biden swore to. Years of seven-figure income. Lavish personal spending. A family name that opened doors across continents. And now, under oath, a claim that it all simply vanished.
Taxpayers and the law firm's partners can be forgiven for wondering the same thing: if $17 million worth of legal defense was necessary, and a Burisma salary funded the lifestyle that preceded it, somebody somewhere has the receipts, even if Hunter Biden says he does not.
When the money was flowing, accountability was optional. Now that the bill has arrived, poverty is the defense. That tells you everything about who Hunter Biden expects to bear the cost of his choices.
