Current:Home > FinanceEx-FBI source accused of lying about Bidens and having Russian contacts is returned to US custody -MarketStream
Ex-FBI source accused of lying about Bidens and having Russian contacts is returned to US custody
View
Date:2025-04-23 12:35:52
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A former FBI informant who claims to have links to Russian intelligence and is charged with lying about a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden’s family was again taken into custody Thursday in Las Vegas, two days after a judge released him, his attorneys said.
Alexander Smirnov was arrested during a meeting Thursday morning at his lawyers’ law offices in downtown Las Vegas. The arrest came after prosecutors appealed the judge’s ruling allowing 43-year-old Smirnov, who holds dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship, to be released with a GPS monitor ahead of trial. He is charged with making a false statement and creating a false and fictitious record.
Attorneys David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld said in a statement that they have requested an immediate hearing on his detention and will again push for his release. They said Smirnov was taken into custody on a warrant issued in California for the same charges.
The case against Smirnov was originally filed in California, where he used to live. Several sealed entries were listed in the court docket, but no additional details about his return to custody were immediately available.
A spokesman for Justice Department special counsel David Weiss, who is prosecuting Smirnov, confirmed that Smirnov had been arrested again, but did not have additional comment. He is in the custody of U.S. Marshals in Nevada, said Gary Schofield, the chief marshal in Las Vegas.
Smirnov was first arrested last week in Las Vegas, where he now lives, while returning from overseas.
Prosecutors say Smirnov falsely told his FBI handler that executives from the Ukrainian energy company Burisma 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.
Smirnov has not entered a plea to the charges, but his lawyers have said their client is presumed innocent and they look forward to defending him at trial.
As part of their push to keep him in custody, prosecutors said Smirnov told investigators after his arrest last week that “officials associated with Russian intelligence were involved in passing a story” about Hunter Biden. They said Smirnov’s self-reported contact with Russian officials was recent and extensive, and said he had planned to meet with foreign intelligence contacts during an upcoming trip abroad.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Daniel Albregts on Tuesday had said he was concerned about Smirnov’s access to money prosecutors estimated at $6 million but noted that federal guidelines required him to fashion “the least restrictive conditions” ahead of trial. Smirnov was also ordered to stay in the area and surrender his passports.
“Do not make a mockery out of me,” Albregts said to Smirnov, warning that he’d be placed back into the federal government’s custody if he violated any of his conditions. His lawyers say he had been “fully compliant” with his release conditions.
Prosecutors quickly appealed to U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright in California.
“The circumstances of the offenses charged — that Smirnov lied to his FBI handler after a 10-year relationship where the two spoke nearly every day — means that Smirnov cannot be trusted to provide truthful information to pretrial services,” prosecutors wrote in court documents. “The effects of Smirnov’s false statements and fabricated information continue to be felt to this day. Now the personal stakes for Smirnov are even higher. His freedom is on the line.”
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.
But 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.
Democrats called for an end to the probe after the Smirnov indictment came down last week, while Republicans distanced the inquiry from his claims and said they would continue to “follow the facts.”
Smirnov’s lawyers say he has been living in Las Vegas for two years with his longtime girlfriend and requires ongoing treatment and daily medications for “significant medical issues related to his eyes.” He lived in California for 16 years prior to moving to Nevada.
___
Whitehurst reported from Washington, D.C.
veryGood! (377)
Related
- Meet the volunteers risking their lives to deliver Christmas gifts to children in Haiti
- Have Dry, Sensitive Skin? You Need To Add These Gentle Skincare Products to Your Routine
- This was the average Social Security benefit in 2004, and here's what it is now
- Could your smelly farts help science?
- Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
- Meet the volunteers risking their lives to deliver Christmas gifts to children in Haiti
- Who are the most valuable sports franchises? Forbes releases new list of top 50 teams
- Trump invites nearly all federal workers to quit now, get paid through September
- From family road trips to travel woes: Americans are navigating skyrocketing holiday costs
- Which apps offer encrypted messaging? How to switch and what to know after feds’ warning
Ranking
- Juan Soto to be introduced by Mets at Citi Field after striking record $765 million, 15
- Meet first time Grammy nominee Charley Crockett
- Arkansas State Police probe death of woman found after officer
- Louvre will undergo expansion and restoration project, Macron says
- SFO's new sensory room helps neurodivergent travelers fight flying jitters
- The Super Bowl could end in a 'three
- Louvre will undergo expansion and restoration project, Macron says
- How to watch the 'Blue Bloods' Season 14 finale: Final episode premiere date, cast
Recommendation
Senate begins final push to expand Social Security benefits for millions of people
The Super Bowl could end in a 'three
Whoopi Goldberg is delightfully vile as Miss Hannigan in ‘Annie’ stage return
Friday the 13th luck? 13 past Mega Millions jackpot wins in December. See top 10 lottery prizes
Who are the most valuable sports franchises? Forbes releases new list of top 50 teams
The Grammy nominee you need to hear: Esperanza Spalding
Global Warming Set the Stage for Los Angeles Fires
Global Warming Set the Stage for Los Angeles Fires