Current:Home > MyEx-FBI informant charged with lying about Bidens will appear in court as judge weighs his detention -MoneyBase
Ex-FBI informant charged with lying about Bidens will appear in court as judge weighs his detention
View
Date:2025-04-14 13:46:39
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former FBI informant charged with fabricating a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden’s family is set to appear in a California federal court on Monday as a judge considers whether he must remain behind bars while he awaits trial.
Special counsel David Weiss’ office is pressing U.S. District Judge Otis Wright II to keep Alexander Smirnov in jail, arguing the man who claims to have ties to Russian intelligence is likely to flee the country.
A different judge last week released Smirnov from jail on electronic GPS monitoring, but Wright ordered the man to be re-arrested after prosecutors asked to reconsider Smirnov’s detention. Wright said in a written order that Smirnov’s lawyers’ efforts to free him was “likely to facilitate his absconding from the United States.”
In an emergency petition with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Smirnov’s lawyers said Wright did not have the authority to order Smirnov to be re-arrested. The defense also criticized what it described as “biased and prejudicial statements” from Wright insinuating that Smirnov’s lawyers were acting improperly by advocating for his release.
Smirnov is charged with falsely telling his FBI handler that executives from the 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 has reported to the FBI having contact with Russian intelligence-affiliated officials. Prosecutors wrote in court filings last week that Smirnov told investigators after his first arrest that officials associated with Russian intelligence were involved in passing a story to him about Hunter Biden.
Smirnov, who holds dual Israeli-U.S. citizenship, is charged by the same Justice Department special counsel who has separately filed 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 attorneys have said in pushing for his release that he has no criminal history and has strong ties to the United States, including a longtime significant other who lives in Las Vegas.
In his ruling last week releasing Smirnov on GPS monitoring, U.S. Magistrate Judge Daniel Albregts in Las Vegas said he was concerned about his access to what prosecutors estimate is $6 million in funds, but noted that federal guidelines required him to fashion “the least restrictive conditions” ahead of 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 bias” about Joe Biden as a presidential candidate, prosecutors said. Smirnov had only routine business dealings with Burisma starting in 2017, according to court documents. No evidence has emerged that Joe Biden acted corruptly or accepted bribes in his current role or previous office as vice president.
While his identity wasn’t publicly known before the indictment, Smirnov’s claims have played a major part in the Republican effort in Congress to investigate the president and his family, and helped spark what is now a House impeachment inquiry into Biden. Republicans pursuing investigations of the Bidens demanded the FBI release the unredacted form documenting the unverified allegations, though they acknowledged they couldn’t confirm if they were true.
___
Richer reported from Boston.
veryGood! (5)
Related
- A White House order claims to end 'censorship.' What does that mean?
- Sarah Burton, who designed Kate's royal wedding dress, to step down from Alexander McQueen
- 6 people shot dead in seaside town near Athens, Greece
- U.S. sets record for billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in 2023
- Toyota to invest $922 million to build a new paint facility at its Kentucky complex
- Angela Bassett sparkles at Pamella Roland's Morocco-themed NYFW show: See the photos
- With European countries hungry for workers, more Ukrainians are choosing Germany over Poland
- Dry states taking Mississippi River water isn’t a new idea. But some mayors want to kill it
- Travis Hunter, the 2
- How Libya’s chaos left its people vulnerable to deadly flooding
Ranking
- Meta donates $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund
- Britain's home secretary wants to ban American XL bully dogs after 11-year-old girl attacked: Lethal danger
- Apple event reveals new iPhone 15. Here are the biggest changes — and its surprising new price.
- Google faces federal regulators in biggest antitrust trial in decades
- Meta releases AI model to enhance Metaverse experience
- Gisele Bündchen Wears Pantless Look for Surprise Return to New York Fashion Week
- Former No. 1 tennis player Simona Halep gets 4-year ban in doping case
- Dominican president suspends visas for Haitians and threatens to close border with its neighbor
Recommendation
A Mississippi company is sentenced for mislabeling cheap seafood as premium local fish
U.S. sets record for billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in 2023
Jury convicts North Dakota woman of murder in 2022 shooting death of child’s father
Student loan forgiveness scams are surging: Full discharge of all your federal student loans
Jamie Foxx reps say actor was hit in face by a glass at birthday dinner, needed stitches
2023 MTV VMAs: See All the Stars Arrive on the Red Carpet
Iran identifies 5 prisoners it wants from US in swap for Iranian-Americans and billions in assets
Timeline: Massive search for escaped Pennsylvania murderer