A longtime FBI informant accused in an indictment of fabricating a multi-million dollar bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden has been re-arrested after a judge allowed his release, the man’s attorneys said on Thursday.
Lawyers for Alexander Smirnov, a 43-year-old dual U.S.-Israeli citizen who served as an FBI source for more than a decade, filed an emergency motion in Nevada’s federal court that said their client was arrested for a second time on the same charges while at their law office for meetings with counsel.
They claimed the new arrest warrant was issued by the Central District of California, where federal prosecutors asked a judge to reconsider the release on Tuesday, and requested an immediate detention hearing to seek his release. The lawyers insisted their client was taken back into custody under “bizarre circumstances” while pointing out a lack of filings in the docket in California.
Special counsel David Weiss, who is leading the criminal inquiry into Hunter Biden, announced last week that a federal grand jury in California returned an indictment charging Smirnov with false statement and obstruction crimes. He also said Smirnov had been arrested at the international airport in Las Vegas upon his arrival in the United States from overseas.
The charges stem from Smirnov coming forward during the 2020 election cycle with claims that executives with Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian gas company that employed Hunter Biden on its board for several years, paid $5 million in bribes to the Bidens when Joe Biden was vice president.
A conviction may result in 25 years in prison.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Daniel Albregts of Nevada made a decision on Tuesday to allow Smirnov to be released from custody on electronic GPS monitoring, according to the Associated Press, despite arguments by prosecutors that he should be detained pending trial.
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Smith’s team highlighted Smirnov’s alleged links to foreign intelligence operations, specifically that of Russia, and warned Smirnov poses a “serious” risk of fleeing with access to over $6 million in “liquid funds” and has the ability to obtain a new Israeli passport after his U.S. and Israeli passports were seized.
Lawyers for Smirnov said in their filing on Thursday that their client has not left Clarke County, Nevada, since his release on Tuesday and noted “the fact that the Defendant was attending a legal consultation meeting at his attorneys’ office contradicts the notion that he is a risk of flight. It also highlights the interference with his cherished Sixth Amendment rights.”