Former Hunter Biden business partner Devon Archer has emerged as a key figure in the investigation into Biden family corruption. Most famously, he testified in a closed-door session before Congress late last July and also sat for a lengthy interview with Tucker Carlson.
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But Archer, in addition to dealing with the fallout from his proximity to the Bidens, has had legal woes of his own to contend with, including his federal conviction in 2018 for defrauding the Oglala Sioux Indian tribe out of $60 million in bond sale proceeds. That conviction was vacated by the trial judge, and a new trial ordered, before the Second Circuit issued a decision in October 2020 to reinstate the conviction. In 2022, he was sentenced to a year in prison. In January 2024, the Supreme Court rejected his appeal.
But that's not the end of the story for Archer. On Wednesday, a federal judge agreed to vacate his sentence and order Archer to be re-sentenced.
Archer, 49, had asked Manhattan federal Judge Ronnie Abrams in February to vacate his 2022 prison sentence in the case over a sentencing guidelines calculation error that his defense counsel failed to notice, and in light of his cooperation in congressional investigations related to President Biden’s alleged involvement in his family’s foreign business dealings.
“[T]he Court grants Archer’s petition for habeas relief, vacates his sentence, and sets this matter for resentencing,” Abrams wrote in her nine-page opinion.
She sided with Archer’s contention that his counsel’s failure to object to the incorrect sentencing guidelines, which prosecutors conceded missed the mark, met the legal standard for “ineffective assistance of counsel” and that Archer was “prejudiced by his counsel’s deficient representation.”
That Archer cooperated and provided testimony to Congress may play a role in any new sentence issued.
Archer’s attorney Matthew Schwartz had argued to Abrams that his client performed “substantial civic duties” through his “extensive cooperation with federal investigators” in the Biden investigation, and his helpfulness in the probe should be taken into account when considering resentencing.
“The Court should consider, in any resentencing, Mr. Archer’s changed circumstances and continued and good-faith participation with various governmental investigations, as well as his continued commitment to charitable and educational causes, and of course his flawless record on pretrial release over the course of nearly eight years,” Schwartz wrote.
A date for the resentencing has not yet been set.
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