Alexander Smirnov sentenced to six years for making false Biden bribery claims
- Alexander Smirnov fabricated allegations that Joe and Hunter Biden received bribes from Burisma, leading to his arrest and guilty plea.
- He was sentenced to six years in prison for making false statements and committing tax evasion.
- Smirnov's actions were deemed serious election interference, impacting the political landscape surrounding the Biden administration.
In January 2024, a former FBI informant named Alexander Smirnov was sentenced to six years in federal prison in Los Angeles for fabricating claims that President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, accepted $10 million in bribes from the Ukrainian gas company Burisma. Smirnov, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Israel, pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI and had been detained since his arrest in February 2023. His claims surfaced initially in 2020 and later became a significant point of contention during the House impeachment inquiry into President Biden. Prosecutors highlighted Smirnov’s motivations, revealing that he had expressed bias against Biden during the 2020 presidential campaign and exploited his position within the FBI to assert false information that could influence the election's outcome. His false allegations included assertions that Joe Biden had taken bribes while serving as vice president when in fact the dealings with Burisma only began in 2017, long after Biden's vice presidency had ended. The Justice Department described Smirnov’s actions as serious election interference, building a case against him that also included additional charges related to tax evasion. Smirnov was found to have concealed millions of dollars of income from 2020 to 2022, leading to charges filed in November. Although his lawyers sought a lighter sentence, arguing that others involved in similar legal troubles were not punished as severely, the court ultimately imposed a six-year sentence as part of a plea deal. The case served as a pivotal point in the ongoing investigations by Special Counsel David Weiss, who was looking into Hunter Biden's legal challenges, including tax and firearm-related charges. Ultimately, the Biden administration dismissed the accusations against Biden as unfounded and a political stunt, but Smirnov's false claims revived scrutiny and had ramifications that affected both the 2020 and 2024 election cycles.