Ex-FBI informant gets six years in prison for Russian-linked lies about the Bidens
Prosecutors said Alexander Smirnov's lies about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter attempted "to interfere in a Presidential election.”
A former FBI informant who lied about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter accepting bribes was sentenced Wednesday to six years in prison.
Alexander Smirnov, 45, was going to speak before U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II in Los Angeles sentenced him. He changed his mind, however, after the judge refused to hear from him privately with prosecutors present then questioned why he wanted to consult with his attorney before saying anything.
“It tends to be more effective when it comes from the defendant,” Wright told Smirnov’s lawyer David Chesnoff.
“And that's why he wanted to talk to you privately,” Chesnoff said. Chesnoff then told the judge Smirnov had “changed his mind.”
“Not surprised,” Wright scoffed.
The judge said earlier that he wanted to hear from Smirnov because he knows “very little” about him.
“I don’t feel comfortable imposing any kind of punitive outcome on someone that I just don’t know at all,” Wright said.
Chesnoff said Smirnov, a dual citizen of the United States and Israel, acted patriotically during his 12 years as a paid FBI informant.
“He helped with the apprehension of institutional, international, transnational money launderers. He was responsible for multiple convictions. He was involved in fighting against organized crime at the direction of his handler,” Chesnoff said.
Smirnov didn’t have criminal liability to shed through cooperation, Chesnoff said, but Judge Wright implied that his work as an informant indicates criminal behavior.
“How do you expect to ever get embedded into some of these criminal organizations without being a crook?” Wright said.
Chesnoff also cited Hunter Biden’s presidential pardon when asking for four years instead of six, saying Smirnov “is the one facing a punishment, even though he is a tangential part” of the Biden investigation.
He called it “kind of a sad irony” that Smirnov was investigated because of the investigation into Hunter Biden, “who now has been pardoned, faces no punishments, and Mr. Smirnov is the one facing a punishment.”
Smirnov deserves a lighter sentence “that will tell the American people that if your dad isn’t the president, you still may get some relief in the justice system.”
“But right now, the president’s son gets away with it, and Mr. Smirnov is sitting here facing 48 to 72 months,” Chesnoff said.
“No, he lied to the ATF about his drug use and purchasing the weapon,” Wright said of Hunter Biden. “So he’s a liar. That’s a separate deal.”
“I’m just trying to tell you that it doesn’t seem very fair to the general public, that one guy gets away with it and he gets left holding the bag,” Chesnoff said.
Wright also said Hunter Biden’s criminal cases are distinct from Smirnov’s lie about “Mr. Joseph accepting a $5 million bribe,” referring to President Biden.
Smirnov pleaded guilty on Dec. 16 to one count of causing the creation of a false and fictitious record in a federal investigation and three counts of tax evasion.
His plea agreement called for a prison sentence of “no less than 48 months and no greater than 72 months’ imprisonment.” Prosecutors asked Wright to sentence Smirnov to six years; Chesnoff and his co-counsel Richard Schoenfeld asked for four years.
The agreement is binding, which means Smirnov could withdraw his guilty plea if Wright didn’t sentence him under its terms. It calls for a probation term of one year, but Judge Wright said Wednesday he was imposing two years, then asked if Smirnov would try to withdraw his plea if he did. The judge changed his mind after a brief recess and sidebar with the attorneys.
Smirnov has been in jail since February 2024 after a grand jury indictment charged him with falsely telling the FBI in June 2020 that executives associated with the Ukrainian energy company Burisma paid the Bidens $5 million each in 2015 or 2016. Smirnov told his FBI contact that an executive claimed to have hired Hunter Biden to “protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems” and that he paid Biden $5 million so he “will take care of all those issues through his dad.”
He repeated some of his lies in a September 2023 interview but also changed some of his story and promoted a new false narrative after meeting with Russian officials.”
I asked Chesnoff after court on Wednesday to explain Smirnov’s connections to Russian officials, but he directed my question to prosecutors, who said they couldn’t comment.
Smirnov, who was born in what was then the Soviet Union and lived there the first 11 years of his life, was prosecuted by Special Counsel David Weiss’ office after Weiss was appointed to investigate criminal allegations against Hunter Biden.
Senior Assistant Special Counsels Leo Wise and Derek Hines began their 43-page sentencing memorandum, “The Defendant is a liar and a tax cheat.”
“In committing his crimes he betrayed the United States, a country that showed him nothing but generosity, including conferring on him the greatest honor it can bestow, citizenship,” they wrote. Smirnov’s lies were him “attempting to interfere in a Presidential election.”
“The Defendant’s false statements had the potential to disrupt the conduct of federal elections by spreading misinformation about the presumptive nominee of one of the two major American political parties in the 2024 elections,” according to the memo.
Chesnoff said Wednesday the handler’s reports about Smirnov show his “veracity, truthfulness, hard work and effort.” Most FBI agents work with informants for five years, Chesnoff said, but Smirnov’s agent kept him for 12 years “because of the success.”
Smirnov “developed a personal relationship” with his FBI handler, Chesnoff said, and the agent visited his home and met his family, “which is kind of peculiar and a little bit contrary to FBI policy.”
When the agent moved offices, he took Smirnov with him, “contrary to the normal policy of the FBI,” Chesnoff told Judge Wright.
Chesnoff also said he reviewed text messages between Smirnov and the agent that show the agent “would regularly ridicule President Trump.”
Wise dismissed the argument that Smirnov was a particularly valuable informant.
“He lied to the FBI about the most important thing he ever told them,” Wise said. “That’s how he repaid the generosity of the United States by lying to federal law enforcement in an attempt to influence a presidential election.”
He also emphasized that Smirnov was paid $300,000 for his informant work.
“At the end of the day, the American public doesn’t owe this man anything,” Wise said.
Several supporters attended Smirnov’s sentencing. Chesnoff filed 10 letters with his sentencing memorandum, three of which are sealed from public view. One letter is from a doctor who said Smirnov didn’t receive eye surgery he needed when he was incarcerated, and he now has “less than 20 degrees of visual field remaining in both eyes.”
“Mr. Smirnov faces progressive and irreversible loss of his remaining eyesight without consistent lifelong management by a trained glaucoma specialist to prevent complications such as infection or further vision loss,” according to the letter from George Tanaka in San Francisco. “His continued incarceration may present significant challenges to such monitoring.”
Smirnov’s sister, Anet Smirnov, said her brother “has always been a deeply patriotic and proud American.”
“He loves his country and embodies the values of service and community,” Smirnov wrote.
Court documents:
Prosecution sentencing memorandum
Judge Wright’s motions in limine order
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