Former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov, accused of providing falsified testimony and fabricating records about bribery of the US President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, has pleaded guilty to providing false information.
This is reported by The Hill.
Smirnov admitted that his words that officials of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma illegally paid $5 million in bribes to Joe Biden, when he was vice president, and his son Hunter, who was on the companyʼs board, are untrue.
Smirnov also pleaded guilty to tax evasion, a separate charge he was charged with for concealing multimillion-dollar income.
He faces four to six years in prison. The time Smirnov has spent in custody since February 2024 will be credited towards his sentence. The sentence will be pronounced next month, in January 2025.
What preceded
Alexander Smirnov, during the 2020 Hunter Biden investigation, claimed that Burisma management hired Biden’s son to protect them in 2015 and 2016. Smirnov’s testimony formed the basis of a Republican-led congressional investigation into President Biden and his family, and also triggered a House impeachment inquiry into Biden. This topic was actively used by US President-elect Donald Trump, who claimed that Biden illegally helped his son with his Ukrainian business.
On February 16, 2024, the US Attorneyʼs Office charged Smirnov with providing falsified testimony and fabricating records. According to the prosecutor, Smirnov had a political motivation to lie because he "didnʼt like" Biden as a politician, and Republicans pressured the FBI to release internal reports containing Smirnovʼs statements. It was also established that Smirnov had connections with Russian intelligence services.
In December 2024, Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter in two criminal cases — illegal possession of weapons and tax evasion.
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