A former FBI informant accused of “falsely”claiming that Joe Biden and his son Hunter accepted bribes has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges, according to court documents filed Thursday.
Alexander Smirnov will admit as part of a plea deal with Justice Department special counsel David Weiss that he fabricated the bribery story, which became a focal point of the Republican-led impeachment inquiry in Congress.
The agreement follows new tax evasion charges filed against Smirnov in recent weeks. Under the deal, prosecutors and defense attorneys will recommend a prison sentence ranging from two to six years.
Smirnov was arrested in February after allegedly reporting to the FBI in June 2020 that executives from Ukrainian energy company Burisma had paid $5 million each to Hunter Biden and Joe Biden in 2015 or 2016. He claimed an executive had said Hunter was hired to “protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems,” according to court filings.
However, prosecutors stated that while Smirnov had contact with Burisma executives, it was routine and occurred in 2017—after Biden had left office as vice president, rendering him unable to influence U.S. policy. They said Smirnov fabricated the allegations, motivated by bias against Biden as a presidential candidate.
Smirnov also allegedly repeated “false” claims during interviews with FBI agents in September 2023, altered his story on other details, and “promoted a new false narrative” after purportedly meeting with Russian officials, prosecutors said.
According to court papers, Smirnov will plead guilty to charges of tax evasion and causing the creation of a false FBI record.
The case is being prosecuted by the same special counsel who previously brought federal gun and tax charges against Hunter Biden. Hunter, who was expected to be sentenced this month, received a pardon from his father before sentencing.
