Mark C. Scarsi, appointed as a judge by President Trump, is currently presiding over Hunter Biden’s recent federal indictment related to tax evasion charges. Serving as a U.S. district judge for the Central District of California, Scarsi was randomly chosen to handle the case against Biden. This case involves nine new charges, accusing Biden of a “four-year scheme.” These charges allege that he failed to pay federal income taxes from January 2017 to October 2020 and also submitted false tax reports during this period.
The indictment against Hunter Biden includes a total of three felony charges and six misdemeanors, focusing on approximately $1.4 million in unpaid taxes, which have since been settled.
Mark C. Scarsi, appointed by former President Trump, received Senate confirmation in 2020 to serve as a judge.
Throughout his career, Scarsi has primarily focused on civil litigation, particularly in the field of intellectual property, as noted in his biography on the website of California’s district court. His legal experience includes representing major Fortune 100 companies, including tech giants like Apple and Google.
This year, Judge Mark Scarsi handed down a two-year prison sentence to a California construction business owner for not reporting over $4.8 million in income across five years and for failing to pay close to $2 million in taxes.
In March, he sentenced an individual to a decade in prison for defrauding eight romantic partners and nine businesses, in addition to laundering the acquired funds.
In October, Scarsi made a ruling that resulted in the owner of an Orange County-based real estate finance company being sentenced to over five years in prison. This was for fraudulently securing nearly $6.2 million from an investor by falsely claiming that shares of his private company were close to being publicly traded.
In the previous year, Judge Mark Scarsi sentenced an actor based in Los Angeles to a 20-year prison term and ordered him to pay over $230,000 in restitution. This sentence came after the actor pled guilty to defrauding film investors of $650 million.
Also in 2022, Scarsi sentenced a former attorney to over three years in prison for defrauding clients. The lawyer misled them into believing he had won their cases by forging signatures of judges.
Born in 1964 in Syracuse, New York, Scarsi pursued his education at Syracuse University, earning both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science. He later obtained his law degree in 1996 from Georgetown University Law Center.
Beyond his professional commitments in California, Scarsi also had stints at two district courts in New York in 2010.
