Alexander Smirnov, an informant for the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was charged with lying to his handler about ties between Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden and Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
According to US news media outlets, prosecutors alleged this week that Smirnov falsely told FBI agents in June 2020 that executives associated with the Ukrainian energy company Burisma paid Hunter and Joe Biden $5m each in 2015 and 2016. He also told the FBI that an executive working at the Ukrainian energy company Burisma claimed that Hunter Biden was hired to protect the Ukrainian energy company from “all kinds of problems” through his father Joe Biden, who was the vice-president at that time.
These allegations led to several debates between the Democrats and the Republicans in the US Congress last year as the latter demanded the FBI release the unredacted form documenting the allegations as they pursued investigations of Biden and his family. The GOP at that time, however, did acknowledge that it is unclear if the allegations were true.
This new development dents the efforts Republican lawmakers are putting into the inquiry to see if US President Biden made money from his son Hunter’s business dealings in Ukraine.
Smirnov, the 43-year-old informant, was charged with making a false statement and creating a false and fictitious record. He appeared at a Las Vegas court and did not enter a plea. The charges against him were filed by justice department special counsel David Weiss. He previously charged Hunter with firearm and tax violations.
Based on Smirnov’s claims, Republicans in US Congress raised demands for probing the First Family and also led to the House impeachment inquiry into Biden.
The prosecutors are claiming that Smirnov had contact with Burisma executives, but it was routine. It also took place in 2017, after Barack Obama, the US president, and Biden, his vice-president, ended their tenures. This means it happened at a time when US President Joe Biden was not the US President and had no ability to influence US policy.
“(He) transformed his routine and unextraordinary business contacts with Burisma in 2017 and later into bribery allegations against public official 1, the presumptive nominee of one of the two major political parties for president, after expressing bias against public official 1 and his candidacy,” the indictment said.
He repeated some of the false claims when he was interviewed by FBI agents in September 2023 and changed his story about others and “promoted a new false narrative after he said he met with Russian officials,” prosecutors said.
If convicted, Smirnov faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison.
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