Hunter Biden asked a federal judge in California to end his 2023 lawsuit against former Trump aide Garrett Ziegler, saying he no longer has the money to keep fighting. U.S. District Judge Hernán D. Vera later granted the dismissal — and barred Biden from bringing the case again.
In filings in the Central District of California, Biden’s lawyers said his income “has dropped significantly” and that he owes millions of dollars. They also said the Pacific Palisades wildfires left his rental home “unlivable for an extended period of time,” complicating his search for a permanent place to live and his ability to earn. Biden, they wrote, needed to focus on housing, fire damage and family living costs “rather than this litigation.” In a declaration he said he was “not in a position where I can borrow money.”
The September 2023 complaint named Ziegler and his group, Marco Polo. Biden alleged they violated state and federal computer laws by building a searchable online database of about 128,000 emails attributed to him from a laptop widely linked to the former first son. Ziegler, who worked as an assistant to Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro from 2019 to 2021, has denied wrongdoing. He had earlier sought dismissal; the court had allowed the suit to proceed. Biden had been scheduled for a deposition when he moved to walk away.
His lawyers said paid speaking work and demand for his art and memoir had not materialized as hoped. Before the lawsuit, they said, he sold 27 works at an average of about $54,500 each. Afterward, he sold one piece for $36,000. Vera agreed to close the case but rejected Biden’s bid to leave the door open. The dismissal was with prejudice: the claims cannot be refiled.
That move came alongside another retreat. Biden also dropped a September 2023 lawsuit against IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, who had told Congress they faced obstacles while investigating his taxes. He alleged they “targeted and sought to embarrass” him by discussing a private citizen’s tax affairs. He dismissed that complaint with prejudice in the District of Columbia, meaning it cannot be revived.
Shapley and Ziegler called the original suit an attempt to intimidate them. “Intimidation and retaliation were never going to work,” they said. “His voluntary dismissal of the case tells you everything you need to know about who was right and who was wrong.” Their lawyers stressed he dismissed “in exchange for nothing at all.”
Biden was convicted on federal gun charges and pleaded guilty in a federal tax case. President Joe Biden issued him an unconditional pardon in December 2024 before sentencing on the gun case. Separate reporting has also alleged he owed more than $300,000 in unpaid rent to former landlords; those claims were not resolved in the Ziegler litigation.
The laptop remains a political flashpoint. The lawsuits did not produce a judgment in Biden’s favor. What they produced, instead, is a paper trail of shrinking income, a fire-damaged rental, and two cases closed for good. Courts do not decide public arguments about a hard drive. They do decide when a plaintiff can no longer pay to keep asking.
