Former FBI informant pleads guilty to phony bribery scheme involving Bidens
Al Jazeera
The fake bribery scheme involving US President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, was central to Republican impeachment inquiry.
A former FBI informant has pleaded guilty to lying about a supposed bribery scheme involving United States President Joe Biden and his son Hunter that was later used by Republicans in Congress as part of an impeachment inquiry.
Alexander Smirnov entered his plea in Los Angeles federal court on Monday in response to a felony charge related to the phony story, along with a tax evasion charge stemming from a separate indictment accusing him of concealing millions of dollars of income.
Prosecutors and the defence have agreed to recommend a sentence of between four and six years in prison when he is sentenced next month.
Smirnov, 44, was arrested in February on charges of making a “false statement” and “creating a false and fictitious record” to his FBI handler that executives from the Ukrainian energy company Burisma had paid President Biden and Hunter Biden $5m each around 2015.
Smirnov made the politically charged allegations in June 2020, after “expressing bias” about Joe Biden when he was running for president, prosecutors said.
