Alexander Smirnov, the former FBI informant indicted for lying about President Joe Biden’s family and their alleged dealings in Ukraine, has been re-arrested in Nevada.
Though prosecutors fought to keep him behind bars, Smirnov was released by Magistrate Judge Daniel Albregts in Nevada on Tuesday with several conditions, including GPS monitoring and the surrender of his two passports.
Prosecutors asked the Nevada judge to delay his release, but the judge declined and Smirnov was allowed to walk out.
Now, Smirnov’s defense lawyers say their client was re-arrested Thursday on a new warrant for the exact same charges – this time signed by federal district Judge Otis Wright, who will oversee the criminal case out of California.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Alexander Smirnov, the former FBI informant indicted for lying about President Joe Biden’s family and their alleged dealings in Ukraine, has been re-arrested in Nevada.
Though prosecutors fought to keep him behind bars, Smirnov was released by Magistrate Judge Daniel Albregts in Nevada on Tuesday with several conditions, including GPS monitoring and the surrender of his two passports.
Now, Smirnov’s defense lawyers say their client was re-arrested Thursday on a new warrant for the exact same charges – this time signed by federal district Judge Otis Wright, who will oversee the criminal case out of California.
“Despite Judge Albregts’s prior ruling, denial of the stay request, and Mr. Smirnov’s prior release from custody, on the morning of February 22, 2024, Mr. Smirnov was arrested for a second time – on the same charges and based on the same indictment set forth … while at the undersigned counsel’s law office for meetings with counsel,” his lawyers wrote in a court filing.
Prosecutors had already moved for a rehearing on the matter in front of the judge in California, reasserting their concerns about Smirnov’s connections to foreign intelligence officials and his access to significant amounts of cash.
He also has extensive contacts in Russia and elsewhere, prosecutors said, and lied to authorities about his “access to over $6 million in liquid funds — more than enough money for him to live comfortably overseas for the rest of his life.”
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