A former FBI informant who fabricated a story about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter accepting bribes was sentenced to six years in prison on Wednesday. The false claims were a focal point of Republican-led impeachment efforts against Biden.
Alexander Smirnov, a dual U.S. and Israeli citizen, pleaded guilty in December in a Los Angeles federal court to charges of tax evasion and lying to the FBI.
Newsweek has contacted the White House for comment via email.
The sentencing brings an end to a case that has played a controversial role in recent political discourse. Prosecutors say Smirnov's false claims were an effort to influence the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
Congressional Republicans used the unverified claims to support an impeachment inquiry into Biden. Before Smirnov's arrest, Republicans had pushed for the FBI to release the unredacted form documenting the unverified allegations while acknowledging they could not confirm if they were true.
No evidence has emerged to suggest Biden accepted bribes or acted corruptly while serving as vice president or president.
Smirnov had been an informant for more than a decade when he made the allegations about the Bidens in June 2020, prosecutors said.
He claimed that executives from Ukrainian energy company Burma had paid Biden and his son $5 million each around 2015.
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