Ex-FBI informant agrees to plead guilty after lying to FBI about Bidens

A former FBI informant arrested in Las Vegas earlier this year has agreed to plead guilty to tax evasion and lying to officials about an alleged multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden and his son.

Alexander Smirnov filed documents in a California federal court on Thursday agreeing to plead guilty to one charge of causing a false and fictitious record in a federal investigation, and three counts of tax evasion, court records show.

A judge will need to accept the plea agreement, which could happen as soon as Monday, said Las Vegas attorney David Chesnoff, who is representing Smirnov.

A jury trial for Smirnov had been scheduled to begin Jan. 8, court records show.

Smirnov, a dual U.S. and Israeli citizen, admitted to falsely reporting to the FBI that executives with the Ukrainian energy company Burisma paid President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, $5 million each in an alleged bribery scheme. Smirnov’s false claim became central to a Republican impeachment inquiry in Congress.

In November, Smirnov was charged with tax evasion in a separate case, court records show. He admitted to receiving more than $2 million in unreported income from 2020 through 2022, according to Thursday’s plea agreement, which addresses both cases.

Smirnov agreed to a sentence of four to six years in federal prison, followed by a year of supervised release, according to the plea agreement. He can withdraw the plea if a federal judge does not accept the deal.

Smirnov faced a maximum 35 years imprisonment for the charges, according to the guilty plea agreement.

“We will make our mitigation presentation at the anticipated sentencing proceeding and have no further comment at this time,” Chesnoff and attorney Richard Schonfeld said in an emailed statement.

After spending 16 years in California, Smirnov lived in Las Vegas for two years in his significant other’s luxury condominium overlooking the Strip, according to court documents and property records. He became a confidential informant for the FBI in 2010.

He was initially arrested Feb. 14 at Harry Reid International Airport after returning from a trip overseas. He was released from custody by a Las Vegas federal judge, but was re-arrested at his attorneys’ office two days later before the case was transferred to federal court in Los Angeles.

Prosecutors have accused Smirnov of being a danger to the public, and said he was arrested at his attorneys’ office because he had multiple firearms in his home. As part of the guilty plea, Smirnov agreed he cannot own firearms in the future.

Smirnov is accused of making the false claims to the FBI in 2020, and then reporting his most recent “misinformation story” about the Bidens to officials in September 2023, prosecutors have said.

During that interview, Smirnov “promoted a new false narrative” about Hunter Biden after meeting with Russian intelligence officials, according to the guilty plea agreement. Prosecutors have previously argued that Smirnov’s story was false because Hunter Biden had never visited Ukraine, and that Smirnov was attempting to spread misinformation about Joe Biden while he was the presumed presidential nominee.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240.