A former FBI informant who prosecutors say made up a false story about President Biden and his son Hunter Biden accepting $10 million in bribes from Ukrainian gas company Burisma was sentenced Wednesday to six years in federal prison.
Alexander Smirnov, a dual US-Israeli citizen, has been behind bars since his arrest last February on charges of making false statements to the FBI.
The indictment came in connection with special counsel David Weiss’ investigation into Hunter Biden. Weiss later accused Hunter of tax and gun-related charges, but President Biden granted him a sweeping pardon in December before his son was scheduled to be sentenced.
The Justice Department filed additional tax charges against Smirnov in November, alleging that he concealed millions of dollars in income he earned between 2020 and 2022, and Smirnov pleaded guilty in December to avoid his upcoming trial.
In this courtroom sketch, defendant Alexander Smirnov speaks in federal court in Los Angeles on Feb. 26, 2024. (William T. Robles via AP, File)
Smirnov is accused of falsely telling his FBI supervisor that executives from Ukrainian energy company Burisma paid then-Vice President Biden and his son $5 million each around 2015. Smirnov’s explosive claim in 2020 came after he expressed “bias” about Joe Biden as a presidential candidate, according to prosecutors. The indictment states that investigators found that Smirnov only had routine business dealings with Burism beginning in 2017 — after Biden’s term as vice president.
Prosecutors noted that Smirnov’s claim “sparked a firestorm in Congress” when it resurfaced years later as part of the House impeachment inquiry into President Biden. The Biden administration dismissed the House impeachment attempt as a “stunt.”
Former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov, left, leaves his attorney’s office in downtown Las Vegas after being released from federal custody on Feb. 20, 2024. (KM Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, File)
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Before the arrest of Smirnov, Republicans demanded The FBI released an unredacted form documenting the unverified allegations, although they admitted they could not confirm whether they were true.
“In committing his crimes, he betrayed the United States, a country that has shown him nothing but generosity, including granting him the highest honor it can bestow, citizenship,” Weiss’ team wrote in court documents. “He defrauded the trust placed in him by the United States to be a naturalized law-abiding citizen and, more specifically, the trust placed in him by a leading law enforcement agency to tell the truth as a confidential human source, by attempting to interfere in a presidential election.”
President Joe Biden, wearing a Team USA jacket and walking with his son Hunter Biden, walks toward Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, July 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
Prosecutors agreed to seek a maximum of six years against Smirnov as part of a plea deal. In court documents, the Justice Department described Smirnov as a “thief and tax cheat” who “betrayed the United States,” adding that his false corruption allegations against the Biden family were “among the most serious types of election interference imaginable.” ”
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In seeking a lighter sentence, Smirnov’s lawyers wrote that both Hunter Biden and President-elect Trump, who was indicted by special counsel Jack Smith in two federal cases that have since been dismissed, “were acquitted and cleared of any meaningful punishment.”
His lawyers asked for a four-year prison sentence, arguing that their client had “learned a very hard lesson”, had no criminal record and suffered from severe glaucoma in both eyes. Smirnov’s sentencing Wednesday in federal court in Los Angeles concludes the final aspects of the Weiss investigation, and the special counsel is expected to submit a report to U.S. Attorney Merrick Garland in accordance with federal regulations. Garland can decide whether to release it to the public.
Smirnov will be credited with the time he has spent behind bars since February.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
