Suspected Russian double agent Alexander Smirnov pleaded not guilty Monday to lying to the FBI about a corruption plot involving the Bidens.
The 43-year-old, who has been in custody since his second arrest last Thursday, appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom wearing a federal prisoner's outfit consisting of a gray jumpsuit, an orange shirt and orange crocodiles.
He was ordered to remain in custody while he awaits trial.
Smirnov was represented by four attorneys, including famed Las Vegas attorney David Chesnoff.
Prosecutor Leo Wise argued that Smirnov should remain in custody because he did not comment on his finances, claiming he only had $6,500 in a personal account when in fact he had access to nearly $6 million.
He emphasized Smirnov's contacts with Russian intelligence officers, although Chesnoff said that “all contacts with foreign agents were at the direction of the government … to fulfill his role as an informant.”
“They threw guns to the wolves,” Chesnoff said.
Alexander Smirnov (pictured leaving a Las Vegas court last week), who has never been pictured in public without a face covering, pleaded not guilty to lying to the FBI during his appearance in federal court in LA on Monday
Smirnow, who was revealed in an indictment last week as a 43-year-old FBI informant, told his superiors in 2020 an allegedly false story about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter (pictured arriving in.) taking $10 million Washington, DC on Sunday). Bribes from a Ukrainian oligarch
The judge frequently interrupted the defense attorney and was extremely skeptical of his arguments.
He also pointed to Smirnov's mysterious finances, saying he has a monthly income of about $10,000, compared to credit card bills of $180,000 in 2022 and over $220,000 in 2023.
Wise said Smirnov gave contradictory answers, telling prison officials he worked in “security” while his lawyers told the judge he ran a “financial company.”
Smirnov's long-time friend Diana Lavrenyuk, 58, attended the hearing with her son Nikolay, 39.
Smirnov's cousin Linor Shefer, 38, and his friend and business partner Nadav Rozenberg, 42, joined them. Both are Israeli-American citizens.
They huddled together outside the courtroom before the hearing, chatting nervously in Russian.
Wise said Diana Lavrenyuk said before the trial that she didn't know how much was in her account, when in reality it was $3.7 million.
Wise added that Smirnov's Citi credit card bills amounting to several thousand per month were paid from her account and that his residence was in her name.
Chesnoff told the judge that his client was pleading not guilty and that the allegations of lying to the FBI “will be a highly contentious part of this trial.”
The judge rejected Chesnoff's offer of 24-hour private security paid for by Smirnov to ensure he didn't abscond, telling them: “I haven't changed my mind.”
Alexander Smirnov, second from right, leaves the courthouse in Las Vegas on Tuesday, February 20
Former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov (left) leaves his attorney's office in downtown Las Vegas after being released from federal custody on Tuesday, February 20
Smirnov's long-time friend Diana Lavrenyuk, 58, (pictured far right) attended the hearing with her son Nikolay, 39, (left). In the picture they are posing for a selfie with another woman
Chesnoff said: “This will be an interesting and complicated case” and that his client will “contact people around the world who can refute the allegations against him.”
He added that contact with the imprisoned Smirnov was difficult because he had been removed from the general prison population due to his alleged status as a potential double agent for Russian intelligence.
Judge Wright sternly told Smirnov he had been unable to “satisfy my concerns that you will not flee the jurisdiction.”
He also accused the prosecutor of making the indictment “longer than necessary.”
Smirnov, who has never been pictured in public without a face covering, has a fair, tanned complexion, short, salty hair and a thick, trimmed beard.
He wore black-framed glasses, which he removed to look at court documents. His lawyers say he has glaucoma and requires daily medication.
He was of medium height and medium build and had dark circles around his eyes.
As he sat in court, he glanced furtively at his friend Diana, who motioned for him to turn around and face the judge.
Smirnow, who was revealed in an indictment last week as a 43-year-old FBI informant, is accused of telling his contacts in 2020 an allegedly false story about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter taking $10 million in bribes from a Ukrainian oligarch.
Smirnov is now accused of fabricating the claims and is accused of having “high-level” and “extremely recent” ties to senior Russian intelligence officials – including the head of an assassination squad.
His defense attorney revealed that Smirnov had also worked for the Defense Ministry during his more than ten years of work as an informant.
But federal Judge Otis Wright II was unimpressed with their arguments to keep him out of custody and sent him back into the arms of the U.S. Marshals after the hearing.
Judge Wright made the decision after prosecutors announced they had arrested Israeli-American Smirnov at his law office for having nine firearms, including automatic weapons, in his Las Vegas apartment.
Smirnov now faces up to 25 years in prison for allegedly falsifying the claims. He is accused of having “high-level” and “extremely current” connections to high-ranking Russian intelligence officials – including the head of an assassination squad.
Smirnov, an Israeli-American with ties to Ukraine, was a trusted FBI informant, was paid by the FBI for his information and was even previously “authorized to engage in criminal activity as part of an ongoing criminal investigation,” prosecutors say.
In 2020, he told his FBI handler that Mykola Zlochevsky, the owner of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma, had bragged to him about bribing Joe Biden and his son Hunter with $10 million during meetings in 2015 and 2016 to stop a criminal investigation.
spotted Hunter Biden at Dulles Airport on Sunday after flying in from Los Angeles ahead of his testimony on Capitol Hill on Wednesday
The First Son will appear on Capitol Hill on Wednesday to face the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees behind closed doors
An FBI report detailing his allegations became one of the shocking documents in the Republican impeachment trial of the president when it was made public last year.
But the allegations are now being exposed by special investigator David Weiss as potential Russian propaganda.
In federal court filings, Weiss says Smirnov's travel and communications records show that the 2015 meetings with Burisma executives that he allegedly had never occurred.
Another Weiss filing alleged that Smirnov had “high-level contacts with Russian intelligence officials” and passed “false information” from those sources to the FBI.
The filing said Smirnov told his FBI associates that one of his associates was the son of a “former high-ranking Russian government official” who “controls two groups of individuals tasked with carrying out assassinations in a third country.”
Smirnov appeared in federal court in Los Angeles on Monday morning, accompanied by his attorney David Chesnoff, to request his temporary release from custody.
Weiss' deputies Leo Wise and Derek Hines, who also led a tax prosecution against Hunter Biden, appeared for the government.
The judge in this case is Otis Wright II.
In court filings, prosecutors said Smirnov planned to stay in the U.S. for just two days before flying to visit his Kremlin spy contacts.
Smirnov was arrested on February 14 while returning to Las Vegas from a trip abroad.
A federal judge in Las Vegas after a hearing Tuesday night allowed Smirnov to be released under certain conditions, including a GPS monitor and the surrender of his U.S. and Israeli passports.
But California federal judge Otis Wright II ordered Smirnov's rearrest on Thursday and scheduled another detention hearing in Los Angeles.
Smirnow's cousin, Linor Shefer, pleaded with the judge for his release in a letter filed Friday in federal court in Los Angeles.
Shefer said Smirnov had lived in the United States for “almost half of his life” and promised he would not escape prosecution.
She wrote that he grew up in Israel, spoke Russian after living in Ukraine under Soviet rule, but lived in the U.S. “more than any other country,” and that prosecutors' claim he had no Connections here are wrong.
She added that he was a “sick man” with glaucoma who “barely sees with both eyes.”
The son of Smirnov's girlfriend, Nikolai Lavrenyuk, 39, also wrote to the judge demanding his release.
Nikolay described himself as a U.S. government economist at the Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics and a former Marine.
In a filing Friday, Smirnov's Las Vegas defense attorney, David Chesnoff, argued that investigator Emily McKillip recommended his client's release.
Weiss said Smirnov avoided disclosing that he had access to nearly $6 million in “liquid assets,” including $3.8 million accessed by his “wife/girlfriend” Diana Lavrenyuk, 58 who pays his personal expenses from her own account.
Residence records show that she lived with Smirnov in San Juan Capistrano until 2023, although the house was in the name of her son Nikolay.
She bought a 2,805-square-foot three-bed apartment in a luxury high-rise in Vegas for $980,000 in February 2022 and moved there last year, neighbors told . Weiss said bank records showed Smirnov transferred large amounts of money to her before the purchase.
Neighbors told last week that they had picked up clues about Smirnov's double life in his mysterious and vague descriptions of his work for the government.
A neighbor on the cul-de-sac of his former home in San Juan Capistrano said Smirnov even mentioned a meeting with the Afghan defense minister and contacts with senior U.S. officials.
Smirnov's allegations about Biden bribes were a key part of Republicans' impeachment proceedings against Biden.
But House committee chairs told that they had ample evidence of potential corruption beyond Smirnov's allegations and that their impeachment proceedings were not based on him.
'Nothing has changed. “We have ample evidence that demonstrates criminal conduct,” said Russell Dye, spokesman for the Judiciary Committee.
Comer, chairman of the House oversight committee leading the impeachment inquiry against Biden, said the FBI initially refused to release the report on Smirnow's interviews because it did not want to endanger its “invaluable” source.
“FBI officials and Director Wray refused to publicly release the form because they claimed it would jeopardize the security of a confidential human source who they claimed was invaluable to the FBI,” Comer said in a statement .
“When asked by the Committee about its confidence in the Confidential Human Source, the FBI told the Committee that the Confidential Human Source was credible and trustworthy, had worked with the FBI for over a decade, and had been paid six figures.
“The FBI had this form for years and appears to have done nothing to verify the troubling allegations in the file until Congress became aware of it and requested access to it.”