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Alleged Russian double agent Alexander Smirnov pleaded not responsible to mendacity to the FBI a few corruption scheme involving President Biden and his son Hunter on Monday.
The 43-year-old, who had been in custody since he was arrested for a second time final Thursday, appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom in a federal inmates’ outfit of a grey jumpsuit, orange shirt, and orange crocs.
He was ordered to stay in custody as he awaits trial.
Smirnov was represented by 4 attorneys, together with prime celeb Vegas lawyer David Chesnoff.
Smirnov, who has by no means been publicly pictured with out his face coated, has a light-weight, tanned complexion with quick cropped salt and pepper hair and a thick, trimmed beard.
Alexander Smirnoff has by no means been publicly photographed with out his face coated. A court docket artist’s sketch shoows his close-xcut salt and pepper hair, thick beard and glasses
Alexander Smirnov (pictured leaving a Las Vegas court docket final week) who has by no means been publicly pictured with out his face coated, pleaded not responsible to mendacity to the FBI throughout his federal court docket look in LA on Monday
Smirnov’s cousin Linor Shefer (middle) and girlfriend Diana Lavrenyuk saved their faces hidden as his lawyer David Chesnoff spoke to reporters after Monday’s listening to
Smirnov, revealed in an indictment final week to be a 43-year-old FBI informant , fed an allegedly false story to his handlers in 2020 about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter (pictured arriving in Washington, D.C. on Sunday) taking $10million bribes from a Ukrainian oligarch
He wore black-rimmed glasses, which he eliminated to look at court docket paperwork. His attorneys say he has glaucoma and requires each day treatment. He had darkish circles round his eyes.
Prosecutor Leo Clever argued that Smirnov needs to be saved in custody as a result of he was not forthcoming about his funds, claiming he solely had $6,500 in a private account when he in actual fact had entry to virtually $6million.
He emphasised Smirnov’s contacts with Russian intelligence officers, although Chesnoff mentioned ‘any connections with international brokers had been on the path of the federal government… to perform his function’ as an informant.
‘They’ve thrown him to the wolves,’ Chesnoff mentioned.
The decide regularly interrupted the protection lawyer, and appeared extremely skeptical of his arguments.
He additionally pointed to Smirnov’s mysterious funds, saying he had about $10,000 earnings monthly, versus bank card payments of $180,000 in 2022, and over $220,000 in 2023.
Clever mentioned Smirnov gave conflicting solutions, telling jail officers he labored in ‘safety’ whereas his legal professionals advised the decide he ran a ‘monetary’ firm.
Smirnov’s long-term girlfriend Diana Lavrenyuk, 58, attended the listening to together with her son, Nikolay, 39.
Smirnov’s cousin Linor Shefer, 38, and his buddy and enterprise companion Nadav Rozenberg, 42, joined them. Each are Israeli-People.
They huddled exterior the courtroom forward of the listening to, speaking nervously in Russian.
Clever mentioned that Diana Lavrenyuk advised pre-trial providers she did not know the way a lot was in her account, when the determine was in actual fact $3.7million.
Clever added that Smirnov’s Citi bank card payments of a number of thousand a month had been paid from her account, and his residence was in her title.
Chesnoff advised the decide that his shopper was pleading not responsible and that the claims of lies to the FBI ‘can be a extremely contested a part of this trial’.
Federal Choose Otis Wright II swatted away Chesnoff’s supply of 24-hour personal safety paid by Smirnov to make sure he did not flee, telling him: ‘I’ve not modified my thoughts.’
Alexander Smirnov, second from proper, leaves the courthouse on Tuesday February 20 in Las Vegas flanked by his cousin Linor Shefer, 38, and his girlfriend’s son Nikolay Lavrenyuk, 39
Former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov, left, walks out of his lawyer’s workplace in downtown Las Vegas after being launched from federal custody Tuesday, February 20
Smirnov’s long-term girlfriend Diana Lavrenyuk, 58, (proper) attended the listening to together with her son, Nikolay (left). They’re pictured posing collectively in a selfie with one other girl
Smirnoff listens as lawyer David Chesnoff makes a degree throughout Monday’s listening to. Between them is Chesnoff’s regulation companion Richard Schonfeld
Chesnoff mentioned: ‘That is going to be an fascinating and sophisticated case’ and that his shopper can be ‘contacting folks all over the world… who can refute allegations’ towards him.
He added that contact with Smirnov in custody was tough as a result of he had been faraway from the final jail inhabitants, attributable to his alleged standing as a possible double agent for Russian intelligence.
Choose Wright sternly advised Smirnov he had been unable to ‘fulfill my concern you’ll not flee the jurisdiction.’
He additionally chided the prosecution for submitting an indictment that was ‘longer than it must be’.
Whereas sat in court docket Smirnov regarded furtively over at his girlfriend Diana, who motioned to him to show and face the decide.
Smirnov, revealed in an indictment final week to be a 43-year-old FBI informant, is accused of feeding an allegedly false story to his handlers in 2020 about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter taking $10million bribes from a Ukrainian oligarch.
Smirnov now faces as much as 25 years in jail for allegedly fabricating the claims, and is accused of ‘high-level’ and ‘extraordinarily current’ hyperlinks with senior Russian intelligence officers – together with the chief of an assassination squad.
His protection lawyer revealed Smirnov additionally labored with the Division of Protection in his greater than 10 years as an informant.
However Choose Wright was unimpressed with their arguments to maintain him out of custody, and despatched him again into the arms of US Marshals after the listening to.
Outdoors the court docket Chesnoff gave a short assertion to media, saying he would enchantment the decide’s determination to lock up Smirnov.
Choose Wright made the choice after prosecutors revealed they arrested Israeli-American Smirnov at his lawyer’s workplace as a result of he had 9 weapons, together with computerized weapons, at his Las Vegas apartment.
Smirnov, an Israeli-American who as soon as lived in Ukraine, was a trusted FBI informant, had been paid by the Bureau for his data, and was even beforehand ‘approved to have interaction in felony exercise as a part of an on-going felony investigation’ in response to prosecutors.
In 2020 he advised his FBI handler that Mykola Zlochevsky, the proprietor of Ukrainian gasoline agency Burisma, bragged to him about bribing Joe Biden and his son Hunter with $10 million to close down a felony probe, in 2015 and 2016 conferences.
DailyMail.com noticed Hunter Biden at Dulles Airport on Sunday after he flew in from Los Angeles forward of a deposition scheduled for Wednesday on Capitol Hill
The First Son will seem on Capitol Hill Wednesday for closed doorways questioning from the members of three Home committees
An FBI report describing his claims turned one of many stunning paperwork within the Republican impeachment probe of the president when it was printed final 12 months.
However the allegations at the moment are being forged as potential Russian propaganda by Particular Prosecutor David Weiss.
In federal court docket filings, Weiss says Smirnov’s journey and communication information present the 2015 conferences he claimed to have with Burisma executives by no means occurred.
One other of Weiss’s filings claimed Smirnov had ‘high-level contacts with Russian intelligence operatives’, and that he handed on ‘false data’ to the FBI from these sources.
The submitting mentioned Smirnov advised his FBI handlers that one in all his confidants was a son of a ‘former high-ranking Russian authorities official,’ who ‘controls two teams of people tasked with finishing up assassination efforts in a third-party nation.’
Smirnov appeared within the Los Angeles federal court docket on Monday morning, accompanied by his lawyer David Chesnoff, to ask for his momentary launch from custody.
Weiss’ deputies Leo Clever and Derek Hines, who’ve additionally been working a tax crimes prosecution towards Hunter Biden, appeared for the federal government.
In court docket filings, prosecutors mentioned Smirnov had deliberate to be again within the US for simply two days, earlier than flying to fulfill his Kremlin spy contacts.
Smirnov was arrested on February 14 as he arrived in Las Vegas from a international journey.
A federal decide sitting in Vegas allowed Smirnov to be launched Tuesday night following a listening to, with sure situations hooked up together with a GPS monitor and the give up of his U.S. and Israeli passports.
However Choose Wright ordered Smirnov’s re-arrest on Thursday and set the listening to on his detainment in Los Angeles.
Smirnov’s cousin Linor Shefer was in court docket on Monday.She was a contestant on the Israeli model of actuality present Huge Brother, and in 2014 received the Moscow magnificence pageant ‘Miss Jewish Star’
Smirnov’s enterprise parter Nadav Rozenberg was additionally in court docket to help him in his bid for freedom
Shefer, pleaded with the decide to launch him in a letter filed to the Los Angeles federal court docket on Friday.
Shefer mentioned Smirnov lived within the US ‘virtually half his life’, and promised he wouldn’t flee prosecution.
She wrote that he grew up in Israel, spoke Russian after residing in Ukraine underneath Soviet rule, however has lived within the US ‘greater than every other nation’, and that prosecutors’ declare that he had no ties right here was false.
She added that he’s a ‘sick man’ with glaucoma who ‘barely sees out of each of his eyes’.
Nikolay Lavrenyuk – who described himself as a US authorities economist within the Division of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics and a former Marine – additionally wrote to the decide asking for his launch.
In a submitting on Friday, Chesnoff argued {that a} pretrial providers officer Emily McKillip beneficial his launch.
Weiss mentioned Smirnov had averted disclosing that he had entry to virtually $6million in ‘liquid funds’, together with $3.8million accessible by Lavrenyuk, who pays his private bills from her personal account.
Residency information present her residing with Smirnov in San Juan Capistrano, California, till 2023, although the house was in Nikolay’s title.
She purchased a three-bed, 2,805 sq ft apartment in a Vegas luxurious high-rise for $980,000 in February 2022 and moved there final 12 months, neighbors advised DailyMail.com. Weiss mentioned financial institution information present Smirnov wired her massive quantities earlier than the acquisition.
Former neighbors advised DailyMail.com final week that they picked up hints of Smirnov’s double life in his mysterious and obscure descriptions of his work with the federal government.
One neighbor within the cul-de-sac of the gated San Juan Capistrano neighborhood mentioned that Smirnov had even talked about a gathering with the Afghan minister of protection and contacts with senior US officers.
Smirnov’s claims of Biden bribes had been an essential element of the GOP’s impeachment case towards Biden.
However Home committee chiefs advised DailyMail.com that they’d loads of proof of potential corruption apart from Smirnov’s claims, and that their impeachment case didn’t depend on him.
‘Nothing has modified. Now we have loads of proof that exhibits impeachable conduct,’ Judiciary Committee spokesman Russell Dye mentioned.
Home Oversight Chair James Comer, who’s working the Biden impeachment probe, mentioned that the FBI had at first refused handy over the write-up of Smirnov’s interviews as a result of they did not need to compromise their ‘invaluable’ supply.
‘FBI officers and Director (Christopher) Wray refused to launch the shape publicly as a result of they claimed it will jeopardize the protection of a confidential human supply who they claimed was invaluable to the FBI,’ Comer mentioned in an announcement.
‘When requested by the committee about their confidence within the confidential human supply, the FBI advised the committee the confidential human supply was credible and trusted, had labored with the FBI for over a decade, and had been paid six figures.
‘The FBI had this kind for years and it seems they did nothing to confirm the troubling claims contained inside the document till Congress turned conscious of and demanded entry to them.’
