Ex-FBI informant accused of lying about Biden family's ties to Ukrainian business jailed for 6 years
A Californian court sentenced former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov, who falsely accused the Biden family of taking a bribe from a Ukrainian business, to six years in prison, CNN reported on Jan. 8.
Smirnov is accused of tax evasion and making false statements that U.S. President Joe Biden and his son Hunter each received $5 million from Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
Smirnov was also obliged to pay about $675,000 in reimbursement to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to compensate for tax evasion, according to CNN.
During the 2020 investigation, Smirnov alleged that members of Burisma's management team told him in 2015 and 2016 that they hired Biden's son to defend the company against legal issues in the U.S. and gave them a $10 million bribe.
Biden was then the U.S. vice president under President Barack Obama. Hunter Biden served on Burisma's board of directors from 2014-2019. The FBI examined the case and, after a few months, recommended closing it, but the Republicans in Congress initiated a parliamentary investigation in 2023 in the hope of impeaching Biden.
Special prosecutor David Weiss, who led the investigation, said Smirnov had slandered Biden, citing personal animosity.
Born in the Soviet Union, Smirnov emigrated to Israel with his family as a child and later moved to the U.S. He became a naturalized citizen and an informant for the FBI.
According to prosecutors, he later began to express bias against Biden and invented a narrative about bribery in Ukraine to harm Biden's campaign against Donald Trump in 2020.
According to the court, Smirnov also had ties to Russian intelligence services. He was arrested in Nevada in February 2024 when he returned to the U.S. from abroad.
Smirnov faced a maximum sentence of 35 years in prison, but under the terms of the agreement, he was due four to six years and a fine. Smirnov's defense insisted on four years, noting that the man "suffers from serious eye-related health problems" and a lengthy sentence would "unreasonably prolong his suffering."
Weiss indicted Hunter Biden on tax and arms trafficking charges. In 2024, a jury found him guilty of three gun-related crimes, and he later pleaded guilty to nine federal tax offenses. Outgoing President Biden unconditionally pardoned his son in December before the verdict in both cases.
Abbey Fenbert
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