Alexander Smirnov, the former informant, pleaded not guilty to charges that he lied to the F.B.I. about President Biden and his son Hunter accepting bribes.
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Alexander Smirnov, left, leaving his lawyer’s office in Las Vegas last week. The lawyer argued on Monday that his client was a loyal American who would not flee the country.
Alexander Smirnov, the former F.B.I. informant charged with falsely claiming that President Biden and his son Hunter had accepted bribes, will be held in custody indefinitely because he poses a significant flight risk, a judge in California ruled on Monday.
After a 45-minute hearing, a bespectacled Mr. Smirnov — stocky, bearded with close-cropped salt-and-pepper hair and wearing tan and orange prison togs — pleaded not guilty in heavily accented English, turning around briefly to wave at his longtime girlfriend seated in the gallery.
Judge Otis D. Wright II of Federal District Court found fault with a decision by a federal magistrate in Las Vegas who last week released Mr. Smirnov, 43, a confidential informant since 2010, and dismissed the argument by prosecutors that he would try to escape to Russia.
Prosecutors working for David C. Weiss, the special counsel investigating Hunter Biden, offered new details about the circumstances of Mr. Smirnov’s rearrest last week in the office of his lawyer. They grew alarmed after a search of the $980,000 condo where he has lived for the past two years revealed nine handguns, they said. (Prosecutors said that Mr. Smirnov had paid for the apartment but that it was in his girlfriend’s name.)
A prosecutor for Mr. Weiss, Leo Wise, explained that the sheer number of guns prompted Justice Department officials to make an arrest at the law office, rather than Mr. Smirnov’s home, which they believed would not be safe. They were able to track his movements because of an ankle monitor.
Mr. Smirnov’s lawyer, David Chesnoff, explained that Mr. Smirnov was at his office at the time of his rearrest because he was eager to begin preparing his defense. He said he planned to appeal the decision.
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Source: nytimes.com
