Now that Joe Biden no longer holds the most powerful office in the world, it appears that his highly controversial son has suffered a startling reversal of fortune himself.

As ABC News reports, despite receiving a sweeping pardon for any and all criminal acts committed since 2014, Hunter Biden claims to be facing such a steep financial downturn that he cannot afford to pursue a civil case he brought against Garrett Ziegler, a former aide to Donald Trump during his first term.

Biden seeks dismissal

It was last week that Hunter Biden filed paperwork seeking the dismissal of the aforementioned case against Ziegler, declaring that he simply “does not have the financial resources to continue litigating the case.”

At issue is a 2023 complaint lodged by Biden against Ziegler, claiming that he illegally accessed and disseminated the damning contents of the infamous laptop computer through his nonprofit organization known as Marco Polo.

Now that Biden says his income sources -- including sales of his artworks and memoir -- have experienced a dramatic decline, continuing the case against Ziegler has become an unaffordable proposition.

Ziegler, for his part, is unsympathetic, telling the New York Post, “Hunter wants to cry uncle. We are OPPOSING that. We want our attorney's fees to be paid, for Hunter to cease lying about us and me, and just generally to shut the f**k up.”

The former Trump aide went on, “This is an abuse of the legal system. It can't stand. Our tiny nonprofit had to scrape together legal fees for nearly 2 years to deal with this Peter Pan like manchild.”

Former first son cries poor

According to Biden's court filing, he has been slogging through a perfect storm of financial calamity, made worse by the recent wildfires in California, as The Hill notes.

“Plaintiff has suffered a significant downturn in his income and has significant debt in the millions of dollars range,” Biden's attorneys explained.

The filing continued, “Moreover, this lack of resources has been exacerbated after the fires in the Pacific Palisades in early January upended Plaintiff's life by rendering his rental house unlivable for an extended period of time.”

“Plaintiff must focus his time and resources dealing with his relocation, the damage he has incurred due to the fires, and paying for his family's living expenses as opposed to this litigation,” the attorneys went on.

Interestingly, the sales of Mr. Biden's artwork seem to have fallen precipitously since his father departed the White House, with the artist himself revealing in a declaration that although he was previously able to sell multiple pieces at a time with an average price of $50,000, his sales of late have totaled just one piece that fetched a mere $36,000 at a time when profits from his memoir, Beautiful Things have also plummeted to a third of where they once stood.

What comes next?

Whether the judge in the case against Ziegler will permit Hunter Biden to cut and run from the lawsuit he initiated remains to be seen, and the status of other matters legal matters brought by the first son -- including one involving the owner of the computer repair shop at which the laptop was first abandoned -- appear to be in similar limbo.

According to Biden's lawyers, his ability to continue pursuing other pending claims is being assessed on a “case-by-case basis,” but the fact that his financial misfortunes precisely coincide with the end of his family's proximity to power is plain for all to see and is a damning indictment of both father and son.