Devon Archer, a former business partner of scandal-scarred first son Hunter Biden, will be resentenced after previously being sentenced to serve a year in prison for defrauding a Native American tribe, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
Archer, 49, had asked Manhattan federal Judge Ronnie Abrams in February to vacate his 2022 prison sentence in the case over a miscalculation of sentencing guidelines that his defense attorney failed to notice, and in light of his cooperation in congressional investigations related to the alleged assassination of President Biden. participation in her family’s businesses abroad.
“(T)he Court grants Archer’s habeas petition, vacates his sentence, and sets this matter for resentencing,” Abrams wrote in his nine-page opinion.
She sided with Archer’s argument that his attorney’s failure to challenge incorrect sentencing guidelines, which prosecutors acknowledged missed the mark, met the legal standard of “ineffective assistance of counsel” and that Archer was “injured by his attorney’s poor representation.”
Archer was convicted in June 2018 of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and securities fraud. Julia Nikhinson – CNP for NY Post / MEGA
Archer and two other Burnham Financial Group executives were convicted by a jury in June 2018 of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and securities fraud.
Prosecutors accused Archer and his co-defendants of purchasing more than $60 million in Oglala Sioux bonds, but instead of using them as an annuity, they used them to “build a mega financial services company.”
Hunter Biden was Burnham’s vice president and earned up to $200,000, but he was not involved in the scheme.
Archer’s conviction was overturned in November 2018 by Abrams, who ruled there was insufficient evidence against him and upheld the convictions of his two co-defendants.
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated Archer’s conviction in 2020 and the Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal in the case in January.
Archer testified before the House Oversight Committee last July, implicating President Biden, 81, in many of his son’s overseas relationships.
Among the evidence Archer provided to lawmakers was his knowledge that Biden’s father was on speakerphone during about 20 of Hunter’s foreign business meetings.
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 assistance in the investigation should be taken into account when considering a new sentence.
“The Court must consider, in any new sentence, Mr. Archer’s changed circumstances and his continued good faith participation in various government investigations, as well as his continued commitment to charitable and educational causes and, of course, his impeccable record regarding pretrial release during almost eight years,” Schwartz wrote.
Abrams asked that Archer’s attorney and federal prosecutors submit proposed dates for Archer’s resentencing hearing no later than May 22.
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