A federal grand jury in the Central District of California has indicted Alexander Smirnov, 43, on charges of making a false statement and creating fictitious records in an official FBI document. The indictment stems from allegations that Smirnov, while serving as a confidential human source for the FBI, provided misleading information concerning U.S. President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. If convicted, Smirnov faces up to 25 years in prison.
The explosive story, which seemed to back up unsubstantiated Republican claims of a “Biden crime family,” turned out to be a brazen lie, according to a 37-page indictment unsealed late Thursday in a California federal court, brought by the special counsel David C. Weiss, who announced that the indictment returned on February 14, 2024, led to Smirnov’s arrest at the Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The indictment accuses Smirnov of disseminating false derogatory information about U.S. President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, during the period when the official announced his candidacy for the presidency in 2020. Specifically, Smirnov is alleged to have fabricated encounters and statements related to executives from Burisma Holdings Limited, a Ukrainian industrial conglomerate. Initially, in March 2017, Smirnov reported a conversation with Burisma’s owner about potential business ventures in the U.S., mentioning the involvement of the Businessperson on Burisma’s Board.
However, the indictment highlights that in June 2020, Smirnov reported alleged meetings in 2015 and/or 2016, falsely claiming that Burisma executives admitted to hiring the Businessperson to “protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems,” including a purported $5 million payment to each, the Public Official and the Businessperson, for influence over a criminal investigation.
These allegations, as detailed in the indictment, were later identified as fabrications, with Smirnov’s contacts with Burisma executives occurring post-2016, after the Public Official had left office and could no longer influence U.S. policy. The indictment suggests that Smirnov’s false claims were motivated by bias against the Public Official and his candidacy.
Further complicating the case, Smirnov is alleged to have reiterated some false claims and introduced new fabrications during an FBI interview in September 2023, implicating meetings with Russian officials.
