As the legal heat continues to mount on first son Hunter Biden, his longtime friend and business associate, Devon Archer, is reportedly being pressed by those close to him to flip on the president's son in exchange for potential leniency in his own appeal of a fraud conviction for which he may end up in jail, as the New York Post reports.

With inside knowledge of Biden family business enterprises representing the last remaining bargaining chip Archer may possess, observers are waiting and watching to see whether he will use that information in a bid to save himself.

Freedom, Future on the Line

Archer was convicted back in 2018 for his role in a fraudulent bond scheme that swindled the Ogala Sioux Native American tribe out of more than $60 million, as the Daily Mail notes.

As a result, Archer was sentenced in February of last year to serve a year and a day in prison and immediately vowed to mount an appeal, which was set to be heard in Manhattan on Tuesday, according to the Washington Examiner.

In addition to his term of incarceration, Archer's sentence also included requirements that he forfeit over $15.7 million and pay – together with his co-defendants – $43.4 million in victim restitution.

According to Miranda Devine of the Post, Archer has grown “increasingly despondent” about his situation, and friends are suggesting that he abandon hope of any assistance in the form of a pardon from President Joe Biden and divulge what he knows about the family's controversial business dealings.

Close Ties to Bidens

Having first developed a friendship with Hunter Biden while the two attended Yale University, Archer went on to play important roles in a number of the first son's business endeavors.

Devine also asserts that such proximity afforded Archer what could be potentially valuable “knowledge of the Biden family influence-peddling scheme, for which he had a front-row seat for four years during Joe Biden's vice presidency.”

According to Devine, Archer attended meetings his friend Hunter arranged between his foreign business partners and his father over the course of multiple years.

Devine further contends that underscoring the in-depth information Archer may have to share about the Bidens is the fact that he was photographed with then-Vice President Biden at the White House shortly before both Archer and Hunter assumed their much-discussed seats on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma.

Hunter Biden Probe Nearing End?

Speculation about Archer's plans comes amid reports that, after years of investigation, federal prosecutors are close to making a decision as to whether Hunter Biden will face tax and/or gun-related charges, as the Washington Post recently noted.

Sources close to the situation have indicated in recent days that Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, tapped long ago to oversee the process, is nearing a final determination on charges that could include felony or misdemeanor tax counts or a charge of lying on a federal form required for the purchase of a firearm.

The Post noted that even amid reports that the probe is nearing is conclusion, there still remains a possibility that the pace of progress could once again slow.

Perhaps complicating matters regarding the Hunter Biden case is the fact that congressional Republicans are also in the middle of far-reaching probes not just of the first son but also of the extended Biden family.

Comer's Claims

The latest wrinkle in the Hunter Biden legal saga came Sunday when House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (KY-01) declared that any potential indictment of the president's son should be held in abeyance until after he hosts a Wednesday press conference he says will yield blockbuster revelations, as the Daily Wire reports.

During an interview with Fox News' Maria Bartiromo, Comer stated that his committee's work has produced a compilation of evidence he says shows the involvement of not just Hunter Biden, but also Joe Biden in a “criminal scheme” whereby they received payments from foreign actors in exchange for policy decisions while the latter served as vice president in the Obama administration.

“My message to the Department of Justice is very loud and clear: Do not indict Hunter Biden before Wednesday,” Comer said.

Whether Archer – in a last-ditch bid to salvage his own future prospects – will bring additional evidence to the table to bolster the scenario Comer seems to believe he can conclusively establish is something that will surely reveal itself in due time.