Former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov, center, leaves the courthouse on Tuesday in Las Vegas. Prosecutors say that Smirnov, who is charged with making up a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden, his son Hunter, and a Ukrainian energy company, had contacts with Russian intelligence-affiliated officials. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)
A California judge ordered him arrested again on Thursday after federal prosecutors argued Smirnov, who holds dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship, was a flight risk.
On Wednesday, federal prosecutors said Smirnov peddled lies "that could impact U.S. elections" while asking a judge to keep him locked up ahead of trial on charges alleging he lied to the FBI about a phony multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving the Bidens and the Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
Prosecutors say Smirnov falsely told his handler that Burisma executives paid Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, $5 million each around 2015. The claim became central to the Republican impeachment inquiry in Congress.
FBI REPORTEDLY INVESTIGATING CONTROVERSIAL DEMOCRATIC MAYOR WHO SCHMOOZED WITH BIDEN LAST MONTH
The Burisma Holdings headquarters in Kiev, Ukraine, in 2020. (Evgeniy Maloletka/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Smirnov was arrested Thursday at the law offices of his attorneys in downtown Las Vegas. Fox News Digital has reached out to Smirnov's lawyers.
Fox News Digital's Bradford Betz as well as The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Louis Casiano is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to louis.casiano@fox.com.
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