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Gone quiet · last update Jul 15, 2026 / Hunter Biden

Hunter Biden's lawsuits and complaints against his critics

Overview · reviewed October 24, 2026

Hunter Biden went on the legal offensive against his critics in 2023, suing the IRS, the former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne and later Fox News, and filing complaints against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Donald Trump.[1][2][3][4][5] He dropped the suits against Fox News and the IRS,[6][7] but in July 2026 a federal judge awarded him $1.7 million in punitive damages against Byrne.[8]

Read the timeline

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He dropped the suits against Fox News and the IRS,[6][7] but in July 2026 a federal judge awarded him $1.7 million in punitive damages against Byrne.[8]

Coverage over time

Share of tracked outlets · monthly average of weekly shares (UTC)

Apr 2023: average weekly share 2% (left 0%, center 1%, right 1%), from 1 of 1 weekMay 2023: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 5 of 5 weeksJun 2023: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksJul 2023: average weekly share 2% (left under 1%, center under 1%, right 1%), from 5 of 5 weeksAug 2023: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksSep 2023: average weekly share 6% (left 2%, center 2%, right 1%), from 4 of 4 weeksOct 2023: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 5 of 5 weeksNov 2023: average weekly share 1% (left under 1%, center under 1%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksDec 2023: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksJan 2024: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 5 of 5 weeksFeb 2024: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksMar 2024: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksApr 2024: average weekly share 2% (left 1%, center 1%, right 1%), from 5 of 5 weeksMay 2024: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksJun 2024: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksJul 2024: average weekly share 4% (left 1%, center 1%, right 1%), from 5 of 5 weeksAug 2024: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksSep 2024: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 5 of 5 weeksOct 2024: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksNov 2024: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksDec 2024: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 5 of 5 weeksJan 2025: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksFeb 2025: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksMar 2025: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 5 of 5 weeksApr 2025: average weekly share 1% (left 0%, center under 1%, right 1%), from 4 of 4 weeksMay 2025: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksJun 2025: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 5 of 5 weeksJul 2025: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksAug 2025: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksSep 2025: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 5 of 5 weeksOct 2025: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksNov 2025: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksDec 2025: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 5 of 5 weeksJan 2026: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksFeb 2026: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksMar 2026: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 5 of 5 weeksApr 2026: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksMay 2026: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksJun 2026: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 5 of 5 weeksJul 2026: average weekly share 1% (left under 1%, center under 1%, right under 1%), from 4 of 4 weeksAug 2026: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 5 of 5 weeksSep 2026: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksOct 2026: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 4 of 4 weeksNov 2026: average weekly share 0% (left 0%, center 0%, right 0%), from 2 of 2 weeks, so far

LeftCenterRight

Each bar is the share of the outlets on our Left / Center / Right rating scale that we tracked publishing that week which carried reporting on this story, split by the outlets' ratings. Over more than two years each bar is a month: the average of that month's weekly shares, so the shape stays readable. The weekly table below keeps every week. We track more outlets now than in the archive, so a share keeps earlier and later weeks comparable. An outlet counts once a week however much it published, and outlets in one ownership or syndication group count as one on each side they appear on. A rating describes the outlet, not the report. A gap means no such reports were collected that week, not that nothing was reported anywhere. Weeks run Monday to Sunday in UTC, so a report published on a Sunday evening in US Eastern time counts in the next week. 7 more outlets off the scale (not rated, or outside the left-right graphs) also reported; they are not in this chart. See them.

Weekly counts, outlets and reports (11 weeks with coverage)
Outlets on the rating scale that carried this story each week, of the outlets tracked that week, newest first
Week of (UTC)LeftCenterRightOf trackedShareReceipts
Jul 13, 20261045 of 5591%
Jul 6, 202603710 of 5602%
Apr 28, 20250167 of 2043%
Jul 22, 202476619 of 2348%
Jul 1, 202499927 of 21313%
Apr 29, 202487722 of 2379%
Nov 6, 20233205 of 2372%
Sep 18, 202318221252 of 23322%
Jul 17, 202353513 of 2675%
Jul 10, 202311810 of 2434%
Apr 24, 20230325 of 2552%

Latest coverage

The newest reporting in this story's record.

  1. Jul 15, 2026 · first reported · Headline from Just the News

    Federal judge awards Hunter Biden $1.7 million in defamation suit against former CEO of Overstock

Background

His lawyers began with Greene. In April 2023, his lawyer Abbe Lowell asked the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate her, accusing her of verbal attacks, statements and publishing his personal photos and data.[9] In July, his lawyer filed an ethics complaint after Greene displayed sexually explicit images of Hunter Biden at a congressional hearing on the government's tax investigation of him; Greene said the American people deserved to see them.[4] That month his lawyers also sent Trump a cease-and-desist letter, saying his social media posts put the Biden family in danger.[5]

Read the full background (2 more paragraphs)

Lawsuits followed. In September 2023, he sued the IRS, alleging that its agents had illegally released his tax information and that the agency failed to protect his records, after two IRS agents testified to Congress about the investigation of him.[1] In November he sued Byrne for defamation over claims that he had sought a bribe from Iran, filing the suit on the same day House Republicans subpoenaed him.[2] In 2024 his lawyers threatened to sue Fox News over a six-part miniseries about his legal troubles, which Fox then removed from its streaming platform.[10] He sued the network in July, accusing it of unlawfully publishing explicit images of him without his consent,[3] then dropped the suit three weeks later without explaining why.[6]

The cases ended in different ways. He abruptly dropped the IRS suit in May 2025, and the two IRS agents who had testified about his case said the move showed "everything you need to know."[7] In July 2026, US District Judge Stephen Wilson issued a default judgment against Byrne, a ruling made without a trial because he had failed to defend the case and repeatedly defied court orders, awarding Hunter Biden $1.7 million in punitive damages and writing that Byrne's conduct was "not a product of excusable neglect but rather of coordinated strategy."[8][11] His former lawyers then put a lien on the award.[11] His lawsuits over his laptop, including those against Rudy Giuliani and the repair shop owner, are followed in the laptop arc.

Supporting stories (11)
  1. Hunter Biden sues IRS over congressional testimony by 2 agents
  2. Hunter Biden files defamation lawsuit against former Overstock CEO
  3. Hunter Biden sues Fox News over fictional miniseries 'The Trial of Hunter Biden'
  4. Hunter Biden’s Lawyer Files Ethics Complaint Against Marjorie Taylor Greene For Showing Sexually Explicit Photos
  5. Hunter Biden's attorney sends Trump cease-and-desist letter over social media attacks
  6. Hunter Biden drops lawsuit against Fox News over ‘mock trial’ miniseries
  7. Hunter Biden abruptly drops lawsuit against IRS — a move the whistleblowers say shows ‘everything you need to know’
  8. Judge awards Hunter Biden $1.7M in defamation suit against ex-Overstock CEO
  9. Hunter Biden Wants Investigation of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Trump Aide
  10. Hunter Biden plans to sue Fox News
  11. Judge awards Hunter Biden $1.7 million in defamation suit against former Overstock CEO

The full record

Each date is when an update was first reported.

All 11 recorded updates

July 2026

  1. Judge awards Hunter Biden $1.7 million in defamation suit against former Overstock CEOHeadline from NBC News · 5 outlets
  2. Judge awards Hunter Biden $1.7M in defamation suit against ex-Overstock CEOHeadline from The Hill · 11 outlets

April 2025

  1. Hunter Biden abruptly drops lawsuit against IRS — a move the whistleblowers say shows ‘everything you need to know’Headline from New York Post · 7 outlets

July 2024

  1. Hunter Biden drops lawsuit against Fox News over ‘mock trial’ miniseriesHeadline from CNN · 21 outlets

June 2024

  1. Hunter Biden sues Fox News over fictional miniseries 'The Trial of Hunter Biden'Headline from ABC 7 Chicago · 31 outlets

April 2024

  1. Hunter Biden plans to sue Fox NewsHeadline from NBC4 Washington · 24 outlets

November 2023

  1. Hunter Biden files defamation lawsuit against former Overstock CEOHeadline from CNN · 5 outlets

September 2023

  1. Hunter Biden sues IRS over congressional testimony by 2 agentsHeadline from WUSA9 · 53 outlets

July 2023

  1. Hunter Biden’s Lawyer Files Ethics Complaint Against Marjorie Taylor Greene For Showing Sexually Explicit PhotosHeadline from Forbes · 14 outlets
  2. Hunter Biden's attorney sends Trump cease-and-desist letter over social media attacksHeadline from NBC News · 10 outlets

April 2023

  1. Hunter Biden Wants Investigation of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Trump AideHeadline from NBC New York · 5 outlets

Coverage & sources

Read the reports, see how much was collected over time, or compare outlets by political leaning.

Coverage & sources →