A California man who prosecutors alleged lied to federal brokers and pushed pretend legal allegations towards President Biden and his son Hunter now faces new costs of tax evasion from particular counsel David Weiss, in response to court docket information.
Alexander Smirnov was an FBI informant for a few decade, offering info to federal investigators in what his protection attorneys claimed in court docket filings demonstrated an “undivided, years-long loyalty to the US.”
However Weiss — the Trump-appointed Delaware U.S. lawyer who was saved on through the Biden administration and later elevated to the position of particular counsel by Legal professional Normal Merrick Garland to proceed the Hunter Biden probes — alleged in a February 2024 indictment that Smirnov illegally made false claims to FBI handlers about Hunter and Mr. Biden that dated again to 2020.
William T. Robles / AP
Smirnov was accused of mendacity to investigators when he advised them the 2 Bidens had every accepted $5 million from the Ukrainian power firm Burisma. The claims “had been false, because the Defendant knew,” in response to the charging paperwork filed towards him.
Smirnov, who court docket information say was born in Ukraine, pleaded not responsible to the costs and in court docket filings, his protection staff has accused prosecutors of charging their consumer “because of the rejection of Hunter Biden’s plea resolutions.” He stays in pretrial detention pending trial.
On Nov. 21, simply weeks earlier than he was set to go to trial on Dec. 3, federal prosecutors in Weiss’ workplace filed a little-noticed indictment in a separate case towards Smirnov, alleging he had illegally hid from the IRS hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in revenue between 2020 and 2022.
Court docket information alleged Smirnov spent unreported revenue on a Las Vegas house, a Bentley and funds on bank card debt. Prosecutors didn’t title the alleged supply of the funds, however the dates and quantities of his funds to him from a single firm recognized of their submitting as “Firm 1” coincide with funds they alleged Smirnov obtained from the Financial Transformation Applied sciences Company, which was named in court docket information filed in Smirnov’s different case. The brand new costs don’t point out any wrongdoing by Financial Transformation Applied sciences Company. Different revenue got here from an unnamed particular person, the brand new indictment stated.
“So as to conceal the hundreds of thousands of {dollars} he obtained in revenue in 2020, 2021 and 2022, the Defendant created and filed false Kinds 1040, U.S. Particular person Revenue Tax Returns, for himself and in Home Associate’s title that included false and fictitious revenue and bills,” the 27-page indictment filed final week stated.
In keeping with newly revealed court docket information, the choose overseeing Weiss’ first case towards Smirnov — District Court docket Decide Otis Wright — held a standing convention on Tuesday and delayed his upcoming trial on the false statements costs till January.
Responding to the brand new tax costs, David Chesnoff, Smirnov’s lawyer, advised CBS Information, “Mr. Smirnov intends to vigorously defend this case as he’s vigorously defending the primary case.”
A spokesperson for Weiss declined to remark when contacted by CBS Information.
Prosecutors alleged earlier this yr that Smirnov’s false claims towards the Bidens had been memorialized in an FBI doc often called an FD 1023. Congressional Republicans beforehand pointed to that doc’s allegations of bribery as proof of misdeeds and fought with the FBI to publicly launch the doc, which investigators now say contained pretend allegations.
Smirnov’s attorneys have argued in court docket information that the case “smacks of political bias.” However prosecutors pushed again, scripting this month that Smirnov, “has by no means supplied any discovery to the federal government or proof to this Court docket supporting his baseless claims—certainly, there isn’t any such proof as a result of the claims are meritless.”
In court docket information filed earlier this yr, the particular counsel stated Smirnov advised the FBI about contacts with international intelligence officers, “together with Russian intelligence businesses, and has had such contacts lately.” Protection attorneys in court docket filings of their very own known as allegations of Russian ties baseless.
Other than the precise costs at subject, regulation enforcement consultants advised CBS Information earlier this yr that the mounting questions on Smirnov’s truthfulness ought to set off an audit of each case wherein he was concerned. A CBS Information investigation revealed earlier this yr revealed that severe doubts about Smirnov’s credibility had been raised nearly a decade in the past.
The FBI declined to touch upon the outcomes of the CBS Information investigation earlier this yr.
Weiss secured a conviction towards Hunter Biden in Delaware on unlawful gun costs and a responsible plea from the president’s son in a second case in California wherein Hunter Biden admitted to tax fraud. He’s set to be sentenced in each circumstances later this month.
The trial conviction and responsible plea had been the outcomes of a protracted authorized battle between Weiss’s workplace and Hunter Biden’s authorized staff after an preliminary plea and diversion settlement fell aside and finally had been rejected by a federal choose in 2023.
The particular counsel has confronted criticism from members of Congress and whistleblowers over his dealing with of the Hunter Biden probe.
Daniel Klaidman,
Scott MacFarlane,
and
Pat Milton
contributed to this report.
