An FBI informant who made false claims about the Biden family has struck a plea deal with special counsel David Weiss, the same prosecutor behind the criminal investigation into Hunter Biden.
Alexander Smirnov is set to plead guilty to four charges, including tax evasion and obstructing justice by lying to the FBI. The charges stem from his false statement in 2020 that Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company, was secretly paying off Joe Biden while he was vice president, along with his son Hunter, who was on Burisma’s board.
This deal could bring an end to Weiss’ investigation. The special counsel had also been pursuing charges against Hunter Biden, who was convicted on tax and firearms violations. However, before he was set to be sentenced this month, President Biden issued a pardon for his son.
As part of the plea, Smirnov and the prosecutors are recommending a sentence of four to six years in prison.
Smirnov’s confession makes it clear that the serious allegations of corruption involving the Bidens and Burisma were completely made up. According to the plea documents, Smirnov admitted that the claims he reported to the FBI in June 2020 were false. He took ordinary business interactions he had with Burisma in 2017 and turned them into bribery accusations against Joe Biden, motivated by personal bias against the future presidential candidate.
Even after his false claims were debunked, Smirnov continued to spread the same lies, creating a new false narrative about Hunter Biden in 2023. By then, Weiss’ office was already charging Hunter Biden for tax and gun crimes.
The court has not yet set a date for Smirnov’s plea hearing.
On top of his lies about the Bidens, Smirnov admitted to committing his own tax crimes. Between 2000 and 2022, he earned more than $2 million but reported only a tiny fraction of it to the IRS, avoiding taxes for three years. He also spent over $1 million of that unreported income on a Las Vegas condo, a Bentley lease, and other luxury items for himself and his partner.
