informant charged with falsely claiming that President Biden and his son Hunter had accepted bribes, will be held in custody indefinitely because he poses a significant flight risk, a judge in California ruled on Monday.
After a 45-minute hearing, a bespectacled Mr. Smirnov — stocky, bearded with close-cropped salt-and-pepper hair and wearing tan and orange prison togs — pleaded not guilty in heavily accented English, turning around briefly to wave at his longtime girlfriend seated in the gallery.
Prosecutors working for David C. Weiss, the special counsel investigating Hunter Biden, offered new details about the circumstances of Mr. Smirnov’s rearrest last week in the office of his lawyer.
They grew alarmed after a search of the $980,000 condo where he has lived for the past two years revealed nine handguns, they said.
(Prosecutors said that Mr. Smirnov had paid for the apartment but that it was in his girlfriend’s name.)
Persons:
Alexander Smirnov, Biden, Hunter, Smirnov, —, Otis D, Wright, David C, Weiss, Hunter Biden, Smirnov’s rearrest
Organizations:
Federal, Court, Prosecutors
Locations:
California, Las Vegas, Russia