An FBI informant tied to a fake bribery scheme against the Biden family has been released from prison, raising concerns that President Donald Trump could pardon him.
Alexander Smirnov pleaded guilty to making up a story that former President Joe Biden and his son Hunter had gotten millions of dollars in bribes from a Ukrainian energy company, but journalist Jacqueline Sweet reported on her Disaster Girl Substack page that he's apparently no longer serving a six-year prison term imposed days before Trump returned to office.
"Despite Smirnov being judged a flight risk, with ties to Russian intelligence and foreign assets, the U.S.-Israeli citizen has been mysteriously missing from prison for at least the past four months," Sweet reported. "Following reports in April that the Trump administration was reviewing the case, concerns have now arisen that the president is considering an imminent pardon."
"Smirnov had been serving his sentence at FCI Terminal Island, a low-security prison in Los Angeles," the report added. "He is still listed at FCI Terminal Island on the Bureau of Prisons website, with a release date of February 2029. But while no filings on the docket for his appeal indicate how or why his release was ordered, he has not been there since at least July."
A process server found Smirnov was no longer at the prison when he attempted to serve papers for a civil lawsuit related to his time working as a confidential FBI informant on a securities fraud case involving a California man named Andrew Hackett, and the prison confirmed he was on "furlough, according to emails and court filings Sweet reviewed."
“I was advised to call back in approximately 15 days, as [Smirnov] may or may not return to the facility by that time," the process server told Hackett in an email. "The representative was notably guarded and provided minimal information beyond that."
A local sheriff eventually told Hackett that Smirnov had been furloughed, but no additional information about his new location was provided, and a spokesperson at the Department of Justice replied “no comment” to a list of questions about the furlough or a possible pardon.
Smirnov, who reportedly has ties to multiple Trump associates, pleaded guilty to making a false statement and tax evasion, and the Biden Justice Department deemed him too great a flight risk to be granted bail because of his extensive ties to Russian intelligence operatives.
His claims to the FBI about the Bidens and Burisma formed the basis for the House Republican impeachment hearings against the then-president in 2023, but the Department of Justice determined last year his testimony contained fabrications and impossible claims.