Ex-FBI informant who made up bribery story about the Bidens will stay in
prison, judge rules
[May 01, 2025]
By RIO YAMAT
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A federal judge has denied the U.S. government's
request to release from prison a former FBI informant who made up a
story about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter accepting bribes that
later became central to Republicans’ impeachment effort.
The decision, issued Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Otis Wright in Los
Angeles, comes weeks after a new prosecutor reassigned to Alexander
Smirnov's case jointly filed a motion with his attorneys asking for his
release while he appeals his conviction. In the motion, the U.S.
government had said it would review its “theory of the case.”
Wright said in his written order that Smirnov is still flight risk, even
if prosecutors say they will review his case.
"The fact remains that Smirnov has been convicted and sentenced to
seventy-two months in prison, providing ample incentive to flee," he
said.
Smirnov, 44, was sentenced in January after pleading guilty to tax
evasion and lying to the FBI about the phony bribery scheme, which was
described by the previous prosecutors assigned to the case as an effort
to influence the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
His attorneys, David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld, told The Associated
Press in a text that they will appeal the judge's decision and “continue
to advocate for Mr. Smirnov's release.” The U.S. Attorney's Office in
Los Angeles declined to comment.
Smirnov had been originally prosecuted by former Justice Department
special counsel David Weiss, who resigned in January days before
President Donald Trump returned to the White House for his second term.
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Smirnov has been in custody since February 2024. He was arrested at
the Las Vegas airport after returning to the U.S. from overseas.
Smirnov, a dual U.S. and Israeli citizen, falsely claimed to his FBI
handler that around 2015, executives from the Ukrainian energy
company Burisma had paid then-Vice President Biden and his son $5
million each.
The explosive claim in 2020 came after Smirnov expressed "bias”
about Biden as a presidential candidate, according to prosecutors at
the time. In reality, investigators found Smirnov had only routine
business dealings with Burisma starting in 2017 — after Biden's term
as vice president.
Authorities said Smirnov's false claim “set off a firestorm in
Congress” when it resurfaced years later as part of the House
impeachment inquiry into Biden, who won the presidency over Trump in
2020. The Biden administration dismissed the impeachment effort as a
“stunt.”
Weiss also brought gun and tax charges against Hunter Biden, who was
supposed to be sentenced in December after being convicted at a
trial in the gun case and pleading guilty to tax charges. But he was
pardoned by his father, who said he believed “raw politics has
infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.”
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