A longtime FBI informant accused of fabricating a multi-million dollar bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden claimed officials associated with Russian intelligence were involved in shaping the narrative.
Prosecutors wrote in a detention memo that Alexander Smirnov, a 43-year-old dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, “admitted” the connection during an interview last week after he was arrested at the international airport in Las Vegas upon returning from overseas.
The document said Smirnov, identified as an FBI source for more than a decade, reported contacts with “officials affiliated with Russian intelligence” that were “extensive and extremely recent,” including one described as a “high-ranking member of a specific Russian foreign intelligence service.”
Another person linked to Russian intelligence, one whom Smirnov described as being in control of groups who are engaged in overseas assassination efforts, allegedly claimed another Russian operative ran an intelligence operation at a “club” inside a hotel.
“The Russian Intelligence Service intercepted several calls placed by prominent U.S. persons the Russian government may use as ‘kompromat’ in the 2024 election, depending on who the candidates will be,” the prosecutors’ memo said, referring to potential blackmail material.
Recent contacts and meetings from late 2023 allegedly involved Russian officials, including one in November during which Smirnov received information on Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Prosecutors also warned that Smirnov is “actively peddling new lies that could impact U.S. elections after meeting with Russian intelligence officials in November.”
Special counsel David Weiss, who is leading the criminal inquiry into Hunter Biden, announced last week that a federal grand jury in California returned an indictment charging Smirnov with false statement and obstruction crimes. A conviction may result in 25 years in prison.
The charges stem from Smirnov coming forward during the 2020 election cycle with claims that executives with Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian gas company that employed Hunter Biden on its board for several years, paid $5 million in bribes to the Bidens when Joe Biden was vice president.
House Republicans highlighted the bribery allegations over the course of their corruption-focused impeachment inquiry against Joe Biden. Following the indictment, GOP lawmakers and Hunter Biden’s defense team questioned the work of federal investigators.
Prosecutors said Smirnov should be detained pending trial, noting his Russian intelligence links and warning Smirnov poses a “serious” risk of fleeing with access to over $6 million in “liquid funds” as well as the ability to obtain a new Israeli passport after his U.S. and Israeli passports were seized.
Smirnov’s defense attorneys said their client “is presumed innocent and needs to be released from custody so he can effectively fight the power of the government,” according to NBC News.
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Reports on Tuesday said a judge in Las Vegas allowed Smirnov to be released on electronic GPS monitoring under orders that he remains in Nevada’s Clarke County and cannot apply for a new passport.
Prosecutors asked a federal judge in California on Wednesday to reconsider the release, saying that Smirnov “claims to have contacts with multiple foreign intelligence agencies” who “could resettle Smirnov outside the United States if he were released.”