A former FBI informant who fabricated a bribery story involving President Joe Biden and his son Hunter was sentenced to six years in prison on Wednesday.
Alexander Smirnov, who pleaded guilty last month in a Los Angeles federal court to tax evasion and lying to the FBI, admitted to creating a false narrative about Biden and Hunter accepting $5 million each from executives at the Ukrainian energy company Burisma in 2015.
Prosecutors said Smirnov’s actions were intended to influence the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
Smirnov, a dual US-Israeli citizen, falsely claimed to his FBI handler that the payments were made while Biden was vice president. However, investigators determined Smirnov’s claims were unfounded, as his dealings with Burisma only began in 2017, after Biden’s vice presidency had ended. Prosecutors stated Smirnov expressed bias against Joe Biden as a presidential candidate before fabricating the claims.
Smirnov’s false accusations gained prominence in 2020 and later resurfaced during the House impeachment inquiry into President Biden. Prosecutors noted the claims “set off a firestorm in Congress,” even though they remained unverified. The Biden administration dismissed the impeachment inquiry as a “stunt.”
Justice Department special counsel David Weiss’ team condemned Smirnov’s actions, writing,
“In committing his crimes, he betrayed the United States, a country that showed him nothing but generosity … He repaid the trust placed in him as a naturalized citizen and confidential human source by attempting to interfere in a presidential election.”
Smirnov, who has been in custody since his arrest in February, will receive credit for time served. Prosecutors also charged him with concealing millions of dollars in income earned between 2020 and 2022.
His lawyers argued for a sentence of no more than four years, citing his “substantial assistance” as an informant over the past decade and his serious health issues. “Mr. Smirnov has learned a very grave lesson,” attorneys Richard Schonfeld and David Chesnoff said, adding that he “will not find himself on this side of the law again.”
The case has drawn comparisons to other politically charged investigations. Weiss, who also prosecuted Hunter Biden, faced scrutiny after Hunter was pardoned by his father, President Biden, who criticised the legal process as being influenced by “raw politics.”
Meanwhile, special counsel Jack Smith abandoned federal cases against Donald Trump, including charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election and mishandling classified documents, following Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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