Judge orders Biden informant Alexander Smirnov to remain in jail

LOS ANGELES – A former FBI informant pleaded not guilty Monday to charges he lied to the FBI when he claimed to know that Joe Biden and his son Hunter took bribes, and the judge overseeing his case ordered him to remain in jail out of concern he might flee the country.

Alexander Smirnov, 43, was arrested earlier this month, sending shock waves through Congress, where Republicans had pinned their allegations of Biden family corruption largely on claims Smirnov made to an FBI agent in 2020. Those claims, the Justice Department now charges, were lies.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II to keep Smirnov in jail while he fights the charges marked the latest chapter in a puzzling turn of events with significant stakes for the Republican-led impeachment inquiry into President Biden – and a broader GOP effort to paint the president as corrupt while he campaigns for reelection.

The scheme alleged by Smirnov, in which Biden and his son were said to have taken $5 million apiece to shield Ukrainian energy giant Burisma from prosecution in that country, was a central part of the GOP effort to drive Biden from office. Parts of Smirnov’s tale emerged in FBI documents trumpeted by congressional Republicans, even as his identity remained unknown on Capitol Hill – and his claims unvetted.

Ultimately, the government determined Smirnov was telling baldfaced lies, according to a 37-page indictment filed earlier this month in California, where special counsel David C. Weiss has lodged separate tax charges against Hunter Biden. Weiss has also charged Hunter Biden in Delaware with offenses related to a gun purchase there.

The charges against Smirnov, who had been a confidential human source for the FBI since 2010, introduced a surprising new dynamic into the special counsel’s work.

Smirnov, a dual American-Israeli citizen, was arrested in Las Vegas after disembarking from an international flight but released by a U.S. magistrate judge there after paying a personal recognizance bond, agreeing to submit to electronic monitoring and surrendering his passports. Prosecutors asked that he remain in jail, and he was rearrested last week while meeting with his attorneys.

To support their request, prosecutors argued in a filing last week that Smirnov was a flight risk because of his overseas contacts and his access to significant funds – as well as what they described as his demonstrated mendacity.

Smirnov, they wrote, “claims to have contacts with multiple foreign intelligence agencies and had plans to leave the United States two days after he was arrested last week for a months-long, multi-country foreign trip.” Foreign intelligence contacts he claimed to be meeting on that trip, they added, “could resettle Smirnov outside the United States if he were released.” Prosecutors alleged specifically that Smirnov claimed to have extensive ties to Russian political and intelligence figures.

Smirnov lived in Israel from 1992 to 2006, according to prosecutors. He then lived in Southern California before relocating two years ago to Las Vegas with his longtime partner.

He has access to more than $6 million in liquid funds, according to prosecutors, which they described as “more than enough money for him to live comfortably overseas for the rest of his life.” But prosecutors argued he had not accurately described his financial situation when queried as part of the pretrial process – a sign, they alleged, of his deceit. Smirnov’s attorneys argued instead that he was confused and stressed that English was not his first language.

In seeking his release, Smirnov’s attorneys portrayed him as a family man with no criminal history and a grave medical condition warranting his freedom.

“Mr. Smirnov has an exemplary character and is in good mental health,” his attorneys wrote in a filing last week. But they argued that he required medical attention because of severe problems with his eyes.

Attorneys for the former informant maintained that his longtime relationship with his partner in Las Vegas – along with her son, who lives in the Washington, D.C., area, and a cousin in Florida – firmly ensconced him in the United States. “He thus has strong ties to the community and has the strong support of family and friends,” his attorneys wrote.

Smirnov’s attorneys otherwise presented few personal details about their client. Prosecutors, by contrast, characterized him as a globe-trotting operator carrying on murky business work. They alleged that he reported no employment based in Las Vegas but claimed to have a “security business” registered in California. Bank records, however, failed to verify that work, according to prosecutors, but instead showed “large wire transfers from what appear to be venture capital firms and individuals.”

His attorneys also wrote that Smirnov “vigorously disagrees with the Government’s recitation of the facts.”