Who is Alexander Smirnov? Charges against FBI informant explored in wake of recent arrest over Biden 

An informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) named Alexander Smirnov was taken into custody on Thursday, February 15, 2024, after being charged with perjury, as reported by The Guardian.

According to the news outlet, Smirnov gave false statements to FBI agents in June 2020, claiming that executives of Ukrainian energy company Burisma allegedly paid bribes to President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden worth $5 million each in 2015 and 2016. Smirnov added that it was done to save them from “all kinds of problems” during Ukrainian prosecutor General Viktor Shokin’s inquiry into the firm’s alleged corruption.

In the wake of his arrest, here’s taking a closer look at Alexander Smirnov and the legal charges he is currently facing.

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Everything you need to know about Alexander Smirnov and the circumstances surrounding his arrest

On Thursday, former longtime confidential FBI informant Alexander Smirnov, also known as a confidential human source, was arrested at Las Vegas’ Harry Reid International Airport upon arrival from a foreign trip, as per The Washington Times.

The 43-year-old man was charged with making a false statement to the FBI and creating a false and fictitious record about Joe and Hunter Biden’s ties with Burisma, The Guardian reported.

Apart from the false $5 million payment claims, Smirnov told the FBI that a Burisma official alleged to him that they hired Hunter Biden to “protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems,” as stated by the prosecutors on Thursday.

The Guardian further reported that Justice Department Special Counsel David Weiss filed the charges against Alexander Smirnov, following which the latter appeared before the court on Thursday. If convicted, he is facing up to 25 years in federal prison.

So far, court records, as obtained by the media source, have no attorney listed to defend him, and Alexander Smirnov has not entered a plea. Notably, federal public defender Margaret Wightman Lambrose requested a closed hearing about sealing court documents of the case. While the judge ordered the courtroom cleared, it remains unknown whether Lambrose’s request was accepted.

Meanwhile, prosecutors on Thursday stated that Smirnov had ties with Burisma officials only in 2017 when Joe Biden, the then Vice President of Barack Obama, left office and had no influence over American governance.

Witness testimony, email evidence, and phone and travel records further proved that Smirnov couldn’t have been in touch with Burisma officials when he claimed it, thus dismissing bribery allegations against the Biden family.

Here’s what Thursday’s indictment stated, as per The Guardian.

“Alexander Smirnov transformed his routine and unextraordinary business contacts with Burisma in 2017 and later into bribery allegations against public official 1 [Joe Biden], the presumptive nominee of one of the two major political parties for president, after expressing bias against public official 1 and his candidacy.”

The ex-FBI informant not only made false narratives in June 2020 but repeated them in September 2023, adding how he met Russian officials, which has also been proven false.

The investigation into Smirnov happened after Republicans in Congress demanded that the bureau release unredacted documents surrounding the probe into the Biden family over the last summer.

The House oversight committee chairman and Kentucky Republican James Comer even subpoenaed the bureau and strengthened their inquiries into the current U.S. President ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

Currently, Joe Biden is facing a separate House impeachment inquiry; however, Smirnov’s arrest proves that he was not making money from his son Hunter’s business deals in Ukraine.

The Guardian also mentioned that Hunter Biden is expected to appear before the House oversight committee later this month for an interview regarding his father’s ongoing impeachment allegations. Biden Junior is currently facing separate charges for firearm and tax violations filed by David Weiss.