Alexander Smirnov, a former FBI informant currently under indictment for allegedly lying to federal investigators, just got some more awful news. The judge presiding over his case has denied bail, meaning that the former informant will remain in jail pending trial.

Smirnov, a dual American/Israeli citizen, is reportedly being held indefinitely after a judge deemed him a possible flight risk.

Alexander Smirnov, the former F.B.I. 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.

Judge Otis D. Wright II of Federal District Court found fault with a decision by a federal magistrate in Las Vegas who last week released Mr. Smirnov, 43, a confidential informant since 2010, and dismissed the argument by prosecutors that he would try to escape to Russia.

Smirnov is accused of fabricating bribery allegations against President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. In July 2023, House Republicans revealed that Smirnov claimed the Bidens received $5 million apiece in bribes from a Burisma executive in exchange for certain favors. The Justice Department contends that these allegations were lies and arrested Smirnov earlier this month.

The indictment alleges that Smirnov “provided false derogatory information” about Biden and his son. The document refers to the president as “Public Official 1” and Hunter as “Businessperson 1.”

Despite repeated admonishments that he must provide truthful information to the FBI and that he must not fabricate evidence, the Defendant provided false derogatory information to the FBI about Public Official 1, an elected official in the Obama-Biden Administration who left office in January 2017, and Businessperson 1, the son of Public Official 1, in 2020, after Public Official 1 became a candidate for President of the United States of America.

Smirnov was arrested at the Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada, after arriving from overseas.

Smirnov was later rearrested after the authorities discovered nine handguns and $980,000 in his condo.

David Chesnoff, Smirnov’s defense lawyer, criticized the ruling, arguing that it was unfair.

Mr. Chesnoff argued that his client was a loyal American who would not flee the country. He complained that Mr. Smirnov was being treated more harshly than the disgraced financier Bernie Madoff, who had been allowed to go free pending trial after he agreed to wear an ankle monitor.

Mr. Madoff “ripped off all of America and half of Europe,” he said.

The indictment against Smirnov has complicated the national discussion over the Biden family’s business dealings and speculations about the extent to which the president was involved. House Republicans are currently pursuing an impeachment inquiry intended to find answers to these questions as the Justice Department seeks to prosecute the former informant.