WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected an attempt to free from prison a former FBI informant accused of fabricating a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden’s family.
Alexander Smirnov Trump’s lawyers urged the California-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a trial judge’s order that the man remain behind bars pending trial.
But a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit said the trial court was correct in concluding that Smirnov poses a flight risk and that there are no conditions of release that could reasonably ensure he will appear in court.
The appeals court also denied Smirnov’s request for temporary release, which his lawyers had pushed for so he could undergo eye surgery for glaucoma.
Smirnov was arrested in February on charges accusing him of falsely telling his FBI aide that executives from the Ukrainian energy company Burisma paid President Biden and Biden Hunter $5 million each around 2015. The claim became central to the Republican congressional impeachment inquiry of President Biden.
Smirnov pleaded not guilty.
U.S. District Judge Otis Wright II in Los Angeles in February ordered that Smirnov remain jailed pending trial, reversing a different judge’s ruling that released him from GPS monitoring. Smirnov was arrested again in his attorney’s office in Las Vegas two days after the judge released him from custody.
Smirnov’s lawyers vowed on Wednesday to continue fighting for the man’s release. They can ask the entire 9th Circuit to review the decision or go directly to the Supreme Court.
Smirnov’s lawyers noted that their client has no criminal record and argued that keeping him in prison will make it difficult to help his legal team prepare for trial. His lawyers said they believed “he should be free to effectively prepare his defense.”
“Our client was out of custody and in our office working on his defense when he was rearrested and detained. He was not running away,” David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld said in an emailed statement.
In urging the judge to keep him in prison, prosecutors revealed that Smirnov reported to the FBI having extensive contact with officials associated with Russian intelligence and alleged that such officials were involved in relaying a story to him about Hunter Biden.
Smirnov had been an informant for more than a decade when he made the explosive allegations about the Bidens in June 2020, after “expressing prejudice” about Joe Biden as a presidential candidate, prosecutors said. Smirnov had only routine business dealings with Burisma starting in 2017, according to court documents.
