A former FBI informant, Alexander Smirnov, charged with fabricating a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving US President Joe Biden’s family, is set to appear in a California federal court on Monday. The court will consider whether he must remain behind bars while he awaits trial.
Special counsel David Weiss’s office is urging US District Judge Otis Wright II to keep Smirnov in jail, arguing that the man, who claims to have ties to Russian intelligence, is likely to flee the country.
Last week, a different judge released Smirnov from jail on electronic GPS monitoring. However, Judge Wright ordered Smirnov to be rearrested after prosecutors asked to reconsider his detention.
Wright stated in a written order that Smirnov’s lawyers’ efforts to free him were “likely to facilitate his absconding from the United States.”
Former FBI informant (Credits: The Times of Israel)
In response, Smirnov’s lawyers filed an emergency petition with the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that Wright did not have the authority to order Smirnov’s re-arrest.
The defense also criticized what they described as “biased and prejudicial statements” from Wright, insinuating that Smirnov’s lawyers were acting improperly by advocating for his release.
Smirnov is charged with falsely informing his FBI handler that executives from the Ukrainian energy company Burisma had paid US President Biden and his son Hunter Biden $5 million each around 2015. This claim became central to the Republican impeachment inquiry of US President Biden in Congress.
