Ex-FBI informant accused of lying about Bidens' role in Ukraine affairs
The special counsel investigating Hunter Biden has accused a former FBI informant of fabricating claims that President Biden and his son solicited two $5 million in bribes from a Ukrainian energy company, according to a filing in federal court in California.
The former informant, Alexander Smirnov, 43, was accused of falsely telling the FBI that Hunter Biden, who served as a paid member on Burisma's board of directors at the time, was demanding the money to protect the company from an investigation by the then attorney general of the country. .
The story Mr. Smirnov told investigators was part of a series of explosive and unsubstantiated claims by Republicans that the Bidens were engaged in potentially criminal activity — accusations that were central to the party's efforts to oust the president.
In July, Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, released a copy of an FBI report that included the false accusation, without naming Mr. Smirnov or questioning its veracity.
“I have urged the Department of Justice and the FBI to provide details on the handling of highly significant allegations from a trusted FBI informant that implicated then-Vice President Biden in a criminal bribery scheme,” Mr. Grassley said at the time in a statement. praised the “heroic whistleblowers” who brought the document to light.
The report's claims turned out to be a lie, said the special counsel, David C. Weiss, the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in Delaware.
Mr. Smirnov now faces two charges of making false statements and obstructing the government's long-running investigation into the president's troubled son. If convicted, he faces a maximum prison sentence of 25 years.
According to a senior law enforcement official, Mr. Smirnov is a permanent resident of the United States. He was arrested Wednesday in Las Vegas after disembarking from an international flight and was scheduled to appear before a federal judge later Thursday.
Hunter Biden promised to protect the company “through his father from all kinds of problems,” Mr. Smirnov falsely claimed to the agency in 2020, according to Mr. Weiss, the special prosecutor who has charged the president's son twice in the past year. about taxes and weapons charges.
Mr. Smirnov's prosecutors said he had no contact with Burisma executives until 2017, after Mr. Biden left office — when he was “unable to influence U.S. policy.”
He is accused of exaggerating his “routine and unusual business dealings with Burisma” into “bribery allegations” against the president, identified in the filing as “Public Official 1.”