LOS ANGELES — A former FBI informant accused of masterminding a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden’s family will appear in a California federal court on Monday as a judge considers whether he should remain behind bars while he awaiting trial.
Special Counsel David Weiss’ office is urging U.S. District Judge Otis Wright II to keep Alexander Smirnov in prison, arguing that the man who claims ties to Russian intelligence is likely to flee the country.
Another judge released Smirnov from jail last week based on electronic GPS monitoring, but Wright ordered the man re-arrested after prosecutors asked to reconsider Smirnov’s detention. Wright said in a written order that Smirnov’s lawyers’ efforts to free him would “likely facilitate his absconding from the United States.”
In an emergency filing with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Smirnov’s attorneys said Wright did not have the authority to re-arrest Smirnov. The defense also criticized what it described as “biased and prejudiced statements” from Wright, insinuating that Smirnov’s lawyers acted improperly in advocating for his release.
Smirnov is accused of falsely telling his FBI handler that executives from Ukrainian energy company Burisma had paid President Biden and Hunter Biden $5 million each around 2015. The claim became central to the Republican impeachment inquiry of President Biden in Congress.
In urging the judge to keep Smirnov locked up, prosecutors said the man had reported to the FBI that he was in contact with Russian intelligence officials. Prosecutors wrote in court filings last week that Smirnov told investigators after his initial arrest that officials linked to Russian intelligence were involved in feeding him a story about Hunter Biden.
Smirnov, who has dual Israeli-American citizenship, is being charged by the same Justice Department special prosecutor who filed separate gun and tax charges against Hunter Biden.
Smirnov has not entered a plea to the charges, but his lawyers have said they look forward to defending him at trial. Defense lawyers, in pushing for his release, have said he has no criminal history and has strong ties to the United States, including a longtime partner who lives in Las Vegas.
In his ruling last week on Smirnov’s release of GPS monitoring, U.S. Magistrate Judge Daniel Albregts in Las Vegas said he was concerned about his access to what prosecutors estimated at $6 million in funds, but noted that federal guidelines required him to “impose the least restrictive conditions.” ‘ prior to his trial.
Smirnov had been an informant for more than a decade when he made the explosive allegations about the Bidens in June 2020 after “expressing prejudice” about Joe Biden as a presidential candidate, prosecutors said. According to court documents, Smirnov had only routine business dealings with Burisma as of 2017. No evidence has emerged that Joe Biden has acted corruptly or accepted bribes in his current role or previous position as vice president.
Although his identity was not publicly known before the indictment, Smirnov’s claims have played a major role in Republican efforts in Congress to investigate the president and his family, and helped spur what is now an impeachment inquiry of the House is against Biden. Republicans investigating the Bidens demanded that the FBI release the unredacted form documenting the unverified allegations, though they acknowledged they could not confirm whether they were true.
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Richer reported from Boston.