Smirnov’s false claims about Burisma’s alleged $5 million payment to the Bidens surfaced in 2020, as he provided information to the FBI. He sent text messages to an FBI handler in May 2020, stating that Russian and Ukrainian media had reported communications between Joe Biden and the president of Ukraine, implying that the situation was damaging to Biden’s presidential campaign. Smirnov even claimed that the Bidens were going to jail and falsely attached a photo to further bolster his fabricated story.
In addition to misleading the FBI, Smirnov falsely claimed that Burisma had hired Hunter Biden in 2015 and 2016 to use his father’s political influence for protection. In reality, Smirnov only met with Burisma officials in 2017, when Biden was no longer vice president. Smirnov’s transformation of routine business interactions into bribery allegations led to unnecessary investigations that squandered taxpayer resources.
Although the FBI had investigated Smirnov’s bribery claims, the case was eventually closed due to a lack of evidence.
