On Wednesday, a federal appeals court dismissed a request to release former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov from jail. Smirnov is facing charges of fabricating a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving the Biden family.
His lawyers had appealed to the California-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a lower court's decision to keep him in custody until his trial. A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit upheld the lower court's ruling, agreeing that Smirnov poses a flight risk and that no conditions of release would guarantee his appearance in court.
The appeals court also rejected Smirnov's plea for temporary release, which his lawyers had sought to allow him to undergo eye surgery for glaucoma.
In February, Smirnov was arrested on charges alleging that he falsely informed his FBI handler that executives from the Ukrainian energy company Burisma had paid Joe Biden and Hunter Biden $5 million each around 2015. Smirnov has entered a plea of not guilty.
