Hunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden, pleaded guilty Thursday to federal tax charges in a surprise move just before jury selection was set to begin in his Los Angeles trial.

Biden, 54, admitted to failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes between 2016 and 2019 while spending millions on what prosecutors called an “extravagant lifestyle,” which, the indictment alleged, included escorts, luxury hotels and drugs.

Judge Mark Scarsi of the US District Court for the Central District of California accepted Biden’s open guilty plea to nine counts, including felony tax evasion.

Sentencing is scheduled for December 16.

The last-minute plea change averts a trial that would have dredged up difficult details of the younger Biden’s personal life during a period of acute addiction. Hunter Biden publicly struggled with drug and alcohol addiction through much of his adult life. His 2021 memoir, Beautiful Things, details these battles. The plea comes three months after Biden was convicted on federal gun charges in Delaware, with sentencing in that case set for November. The latter case is also rooted in Hunter Biden’s substance abuse struggles.

In a press briefing Thursday, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that to her knowledge, the elder Biden remains resolute not to use his presidential pardon authority to commute Hunter Biden’s sentence.