Washington (AP)-An FBI informer has been accused of lying to officials, including the President Joe Biden, his son Hunter and a Ukrainian energy company about a multimilian-dollar bribery scheme, a claim that is central for Republican impeachment inquiries in Congress.
Prosecutors said on Thursday that Alexander Smirnov incorrectly stated in June 2020 that officials associated with Ukrainian energy company Burisma paid each $ 5 million to Hunter and Joe Biden in 2015 or 2016.
The prosecutors said that Smirnov said that an executive of a Burima had hired Hunter Biden “through our father, from all kinds of problems, to protect us.”
Smirnov, 43, was charged on Wednesday for making a wrong statement and making a false and fictional records. No lawyer was immediately listed for him in court records. The prosecutors said that he was expected to appear in the first court in Las Vegas, where he was arrested on Wednesday after arriving abroad.
The informer claims have been central for the Republican efforts in the Congress to investigate the President and his family, and now a House in Biden has helped to investigate impeachment.
Prosecutors say Smirnov had contact with Burisma officials, but it was regular and actually happened in 2017, after President Barack Obama and Biden, his vice -president, his vice -president, left the post – when Biden had no ability to influence the American policy.
Smirnov “replaced his routine and unexpected business connectivity with bureissi in 2017 and later in allegations of bribery against public officer 1, presumed nominated by one of the two major political parties for the President, public officer 1 and expressing prejudice against his candidature,” said the prosecutor.
The prosecutors said that when the FBI was interviewed by the FBI agents in September 2023, they repeated some false claims and changed their story about others and “met with Russian authorities,” promoted a new false story “after”, “the prosecutors said.
If convicted, he has to face a 25 -year jail sentence.
The allegations were filed by David Weiss, a special lawyer of the Department of Justice, who has charged Hunter Biden separately with fire and tax violations. Hunter Biden’s legal team did not return a message demanding immediate remarks.
The allegations became a flashpoint in the Congress as the Republican President who was investigating Biden and his family demanded the FBI to release the unpublished form documenting the allegations. He admitted that if the allegations were correct, they could not confirm.
The Chairman of the House Oversite Committee, James Comer, R -K., had snatched the FBI for the so -called FD -1023 document last year as Republican deepened the investigation of Biden and his son Hunter before the 2024 presidential election.
Working with the Comer, Republican Sen Chak Grassley of Iowa released an unclaimed document, claiming that the Republican was important in his investigation by Hunter Biden. It added information that was widely broadcast during the first impeachment test of Donald Trump, including Trump Attorney Rudy Giuliani’s attempts to dig dirt on the biddens before the 2020 election. The White House said at the time that the claims were debated for years.
Biden’s impeachment on his son’s business behavior has lagged behind in the house, but the panel is moving forward with its work.
Hunter Biden is expected to appear before the committee later this month for an interview.
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