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In this courtroom sketch, Defendant Alexander Smirnov speaks in Federal court in Los Angeles on February 26. (William T. Robles via AP via CNN Newsource)
By Katelyn Polantz, CNN
(CNN) — An FBI informant accused of lying about the Biden family has cut a plea deal with special counsel David Weiss, the prosecutor who led the criminal probe into Hunter Biden.
Alexander Smirnov is set to plead guilty to four charges, including tax evasion and obstructing justice by providing false information to the FBI, according to a court filing in California on Thursday.
Smirnov had falsely told the FBI in 2020 that Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company, was illicitly paying off Joe Biden while he was vice president, and his son Hunter, who was on the company’s board.
This will likely end Weiss’ investigation. The special counsel led the prosecution against Hunter Biden, who was convicted of tax and firearms charges. President Biden issued a pardon for his son before he was scheduled to be sentenced this month.
Under the plea agreement, prosecutors and the defendant are asking the judge to sentence Smirnov to between four and six years in prison.
Smirnov’s admissions that are part of his plea make clear a major accusation of corruption between Burisma and the Bidens, which fueled conservative attacks of the now-president and his son, were false.
“The events Defendant first reported to the Handler in June 2020 were fabrications,” the plea documents say. “Defendant transformed his routine and unextraordinary business contacts with Burisma in 2017 and later into bribery allegations against Public Official 1, the presumptive nominee of one of the two major political parties for President, after expressing bias against Public Official 1 and his candidacy.”
The plea agreement says that Smirnov repeated his false accusations about the Bidens again in 2023, and was telling investigators by then a “new false narrative” about Hunter Biden. At that time, Weiss’ office was continuing to investigate Hunter Biden and brought charges against him on gun and tax crimes.
The court hasn’t yet scheduled when it will hear Smirnov’s plea.
Smirnov, in his plea, admits to his own set of tax crimes.
He brought in more than two million dollars between 2000 and 2022 that he reported a small fraction to the IRS, avoiding the tax payments over those three years. Smirnov admits he spent from the money more than $1 million on a condo purchase in Las Vegas, a lease for a Bentley and other luxury items for himself and his partner.
A Justice Department official declined to comment.
The-CNN-Wire
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