Former FBI informant who allegedly lied about Biden, accused of hiding millions from income taxes

A former FBI informant accused of making false claims that sparked the GOP impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden was indicted last week on federal charges accusing him of concealing multimillion-dollar income while paying taxes.

Alexander Smirnov is charged with three counts of tax evasion and three counts of filing a false or fraudulent tax return after allegedly receiving more than $2 million in income from multiple sources between 2020 and 2022, according to indictment obtained by HuffPost.

In the document, prosecutors alleged that he used the earnings to finance a lavish lifestyle for himself and a woman known as his domestic partner. Some of Smirnov’s purchases included a Las Vegas condominium, a Bentley, and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of clothes, jewelry and accessories purchased at high-end stores in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

The indictment states that Smirnov allegedly concealed the millions of dollars he received by creating and submitting false income forms in his and his partner’s names.

Earlier this year, a former informant was charged with perjury and creating false and fictitious records after federal prosecutors accused him of lying to the FBI. according to the earlier indictment.

Smirnov claimed that an executive at the Ukrainian energy company Burisma gave him information about payments made to Biden and his son Hunter Biden around 2015.

These claims became the focus of Congress’s impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden last September. However, according to the indictment, when Smirnov was questioned by FBI agents later that month, he changed his story and promoted a new false narrative after saying he had met with Russian officials. Smirnov pleaded not guilty and this case also remains pending.

In a statement shared with HuffPost, Smirnov’s lawyer said he intends to “decisively fight these allegations with the same intensity with which
fought the original indictment.”

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