Former FBI informant pleads guilty to fabricating Biden claims

(The Hill) - A former FBI informant on Monday entered a guilty plea on four federal charges related to falsifying statements that in part spurred a GOP congressional investigation into the Biden family.

Alexander Smirnov pleaded guilty on those charges and unrelated tax evasion charges after concealing millions in income.

Smirnov had relayed to the FBI that the head of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma told him he had paid both President Biden and his son Hunter Biden $5 million. The claims were false but became central to a House GOP probe of the Bidens. 

In court documents, Smirnov admitted to providing “false derogatory information” about the president and his son. 

Prosecutors and Smirnov agreed to a sentence of between 48 and 72 months in prison when he is sentenced next month.

Smirnov will get credit for the time he has served since his February arrest.

The original indictment against Smirnov accused him of having “transformed his routine and unextraordinary business contacts with Burisma in 2017” to form the basis of the bribery allegations.

The case against Smirnov was brought by special counsel David Weiss, who also prosecuted Hunter Biden on gun and tax charges.

Hunter Biden was supposed to be sentenced this month after being convicted at a trial in the gun case and pleading guilty to federal charges in the tax case. But he was pardoned this month by his father, who said he believed “raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.”

The Associated Press contributed.