Former FBI informant sentenced to 6 years for false Biden bribery story

A former FBI informant who prosecutors say made up a false story about President Biden and his son hunter biden for accepting $10 million in bribes from the 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 he was arrested 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 Hunter charged with taxes and weapons charges, but President Biden granted him a broad pardon in December before his son was sentenced.

The Justice Department added additional tax charges against Smirnov in November, alleging that he concealed millions of dollars of income he earned between 2020 and 2022, and that Smirnov He pleaded guilty in December. to avoid his imminent trial.

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In this courtroom sketch, defendant Alexander Smirnov speaks in federal court in Los Angeles on February 26, 2024. (William T. Robles via AP, File)

Smirnov was accused of falsely telling his FBI handler that executives at the Ukrainian energy company Burisma had paid then-Vice President Biden and his son $5 million each around 2015. Smirnov’s explosive claim in 2020 came after that he expressed his “bias” about Joe Biden as a presidential candidate, according to prosecutors. The indictment says investigators found that Smirnov only had routine business dealings with Burisma beginning in 2017, after Biden’s tenure as vice president.

Prosecutors noted that Smirnov’s claim “triggered 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 Smirnov’s arrest, The Republicans had demanded The FBI released the unredacted form documenting the unverified allegations, although they acknowledged they could not confirm whether they were true.

“By committing his crimes, he betrayed the United States, a country that showed him nothing but generosity, including conferring upon him the highest honor it can bestow: citizenship,” Weiss’ team wrote in court papers. “He repaid the trust that the United States placed in him as a law-abiding naturalized citizen and, more specifically, that which one of its primary law enforcement agencies placed in him to tell the truth as a confidential human source, while attempting to interfere in a presidential election. “

President Joe Biden, wearing a Team USA jacket and walking with his son Hunter Biden, heads toward Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, July 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Prosecutors agreed to pursue no more than six years against Smirnov as part of his plea deal. In court papers, the Justice Department described Smirnov as a “liar and tax evader” who “betrayed the United States,” adding that his false allegations of corruption against the Biden family were “among the most serious types of election interference.” that one can imagine.” ”

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In seeking a lighter sentence, Smirnov’s attorneys wrote that both Hunter Biden and President-elect Trump, a defendant in two federal cases that have since been dropped by special counsel Jack Smith, “have walked free of any significant punishment.”

His lawyers had asked for a four-year prison sentence, arguing that their client “has learned a very serious lesson,” had no criminal record and suffered from severe glaucoma in both eyes. Smirnov’s sentencing Wednesday in federal court in Los Angeles concluded the final aspects of the Weiss investigation, and the special counsel is expected to submit a report to Attorney General Merrick Garland in accordance with federal regulations. Garland can decide whether to make it public.

Smirnov will receive credit for the time he has spent behind bars since February.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.