FBI informant charged with providing false derogatory information about Bidens

WASHINGTON -- A Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) informant has been charged with providing the bureau with incorrect information about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, according to the US Justice Department.

Alexander Smirnov, 43, who disliked President Joe Biden, "provided false derogatory information to the FBI" about Joe Biden and his son after Joe Biden became a presidential candidate in 2020, showed a 37-page indictment filed on Wednesday.

Smirnov was arrested in Las Vegas after returning from a trip overseas, the Justice Department said.

Smirnov purportedly provided the FBI with inaccurate information, claiming that officials from Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company employing Hunter Biden, had stated they hired Hunter Biden because he would ensure protection, facilitated by his father, from various issues.

Additionally, Smirnov allegedly falsely informed the FBI that Burisma officials disclosed they had paid 5 million dollars to Hunter Biden and Joe Biden, suggesting it would take investigators a decade to uncover these illicit payments to Joe Biden.

"In short, the Defendant transformed his routine and unextraordinary business contacts with Burisma in 2017 and later into bribery allegations against Public Official 1 (Joe Biden), the presumptive nominee of one of the two major political parties for President, after expressing bias against Public Official 1 and his candidacy," the indictment said.

The legal matter emerged from the special counsel inquiry overseen by David Weiss, who is concurrently heading the investigation involving Hunter Biden. Weiss first began investigating the president's son five years ago as the US attorney for Delaware, appointed by former President Donald Trump.

In September 2023, Hunter Biden was indicted on gun-related charges. In December, he was indicted on nine counts related to an investigation into his taxes.