Alexander Smirnov, the disgraced former FBI informant who falsely accused incumbent US president Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden of taking a $10 million bribe from Ukraine, was sentenced to six years in prison on Wednesday (Jan 8). 

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False claims and election interference 

Smirnov pleaded guilty last month to causing the creation of a false FBI record and multiple counts of tax evasion after lying to his FBI handler that he had information about bribes accepted by the Bidens. 

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Prosecutors revealed that Smirnov fabricated claims in 2020, alleging executives at Burisma Holdings paid Joe and Hunter Biden $5 million each in bribes to protect the company while Joe Biden served as vice president. 

Smirnov's false statements included claims that Burisma hired Hunter Biden to “protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems.”

“The defendant decided in 2020 to exploit the position of trust he enjoyed with the FBI in order to provide false information about one of the candidates for President of the United States in an attempt to influence the outcome of the election,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing.

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Calling the ex-FBI informant a “liar and a tax cheat”, they said that he “betrayed” the US and that the corruption allegations he cooked up against Joe Biden were “among the most serious kinds of election interference one can imagine,” because they roiled both the 2020 and 2024 election cycles. Smirnov has been ordered to pay $675,000 in restitution for tax evasion to the IRS.

Republicans and Smirnov

Republican lawmakers, as per Reuters learned of Smirnov's accusations, which briefly became the focus of now-abandoned attempts to impeach Biden.

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In the run-up to the 2024 campaign, Republicans brought national attention to Smirnov’s allegations, touting his record as an FBI informant. Their claims quickly went viral, and this scrutiny led Special Counsel David Weiss' team to re-examine Smirnov, ultimately concluding he had repeatedly lied to federal authorities.

Weiss' investigation into Hunter Biden and related matters, Smirnov's bombshell indictment—and the subsequent public repudiation of his fake bribery claims—helped derail the Republican impeachment push against Biden.

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By 2023, congressional Republicans revived Smirnov's accusations, drawing national attention to his role as an informant. This scrutiny led Weiss' team to re-examine Smirnov, ultimately concluding he “was lying” and “should be prosecuted himself”. 

The case also intersected with Weiss’ broader investigation into Hunter Biden, who faced tax and gun-related charges. While Hunter Biden was convicted on several counts, President Joe Biden issued a sweeping pardon for his son last month, ending those prosecutions. 

(With inputs from agencies)