Dec. 12 (UPI) — Former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov will plead guilty to obstruction of justice for falsely accusing President Joe Biden and his son Hunter of taking $5 million in bribes from Ukrainian company Burisma.
Smirnov reached a plea deal with special counsel Robert Weiss’s’ office, according to court documents filed Thursday.
He was charged with lying to the FBI, obstructing justice with “fabrications” about the Bidens taking the bribes. He will also plead guilty to tax evasion.
The bribe story wasn’t true, but Republicans used Smirnov’s lies in an impeachment effort against Biden that failed to happen due to lack of evidence.
According to the plea agreement court filing, Smirnov has agreed to plead guilty to four criminal counts related to his lies about the Bidens.
The charges are one count obstructing justice by causing the creation of a false and fictitious record in a federal investigation and three counts of tax evasion.
The filing said Smirnov will be sentenced within thirty days.
He faces a maximum 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for the obstruction charge.
For tax evasion counts, he faces five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Total maximum sentence for all the offense Smirnov is pleading guilty to is 35 years in prison, three years of supervised release and “a fine of $1,000,000 or twice the gross gain or gross loss resulting from the offense, whichever is greatest; and a mandatory special assessment of $400.”
According to the court filing, special counsel Weiss will recommend “no less than 48 months and no greater than 72 months’ imprisonment; 1 year supervised release with conditions to be fixed by the court; $400 special assessment; $675,502 restitution and no fine.”
It’s up to the judge whether or not to accept Weiss’ recommendation or impose a different sentence.
With Smirnov’s case resolved, Weiss can formally end a years long investigation that resulted in two separate felony convictions of Hunter Biden.
Those charges were thrown out when President Biden pardoned his son on Dec. 2.
Smirnov’s lies about the Bidens in an FBI document prompted Republicans to use it as a centerpiece of their efforts to investigate the Bidens.
