US District Judge Otis Wright II in Los Angeles ordered the detention of former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov. The Associated Press reports on the detention decision.
On February 23 he faced renewed charges alleging that President Joe Biden provided false information regarding his son Hunter and business dealings with the Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings.
The judge ruled that Smirnov will stay in custody until his trial, noting concerns about confidence in the defendant appearing for proceedings. Details about the exact arrest date were not released by the agency. Smirnov was denied bail due to these concerns, according to AFP.
Smirnov was detained at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas on February 14 after arriving from abroad. The U.S. Department of Justice Special Counsel David Weiss accused him of lying about President Biden and Hunter Biden’s involvement in Burisma related transactions. He had been released on bail on February 21 but was arrested again in Nevada on the morning of February 23 under the same arrest warrant.
AFP reported that Smirnov holds both U.S. and Israeli citizenship. During interrogation on February 14 prosecutors stated he admitted connections to Russian intelligence. Investigators believe some information supplied to the FBI over roughly a decade may have been false.
Earlier a Biden adviser noted that arms shipments to Ukraine had paused at a certain point in the timeline. The unfolding legal proceedings have drawn attention to the ongoing questions surrounding the Burisma matter and the broader political context in Washington and Kyiv.