On Monday, former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov is set to plead guilty to lying about a bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden and his son Hunter that has become central to the Republican impeachment investigation in Congress. This was reported by the Associated Press , and UNN.
Details
According to court documents, Alexander Smirnov is pleading guilty in Los Angeles to a felony charge in connection with the false story, as well as tax evasion stemming from a separate indictment accusing him of hiding millions of dollars in income.
Smirnov has been behind bars since his arrest in February on charges that he told his FBI handler that executives of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma allegedly paid President Biden and Hunter Biden approximately $5 million each in 2015.
Pursuant to the plea agreement, prosecutors and the defense agreed to recommend a sentence of four to six years' imprisonment.
According to prosecutors, Smirnov had been working as an informant for over a decade. However, according to court documents, Smirnov only had a routine business relationship with Burisma. The local FBI office investigated the allegations and recommended dismissal of the case in August 2020, according to the charging documents.
No evidence has emerged that Joe Biden acted corruptly or took bribes in his current or previous position as vice president.
Although his identity was not publicly known prior to his indictment, Smirnov's statements played an important role in Republican efforts in Congress to investigate the president and his family, and helped initiate an impeachment investigation of Biden in the House of Representatives. Prior to Smirnov's arrest, Republicans demanded that the FBI release an unredacted form of documents supporting the unverified allegations, although they admitted that they could not confirm their veracity.
As previously reported, Oleksandr Smirnov entered into a plea agreement in the case of evidence tampering against Joe and Hunter Biden
Recall
U.S. District Judge Otis Wright II in Los Angeles jailed former FBI whistleblower Alexander Smirnov. On February 23, he was re-detained on charges of providing false information about US President Joe Biden's involvement in the business ties between his son Hunter and the Ukrainian energy company Burisma.