Alexander Smirnov, an ex-informant who was arrested last week on charges of lying to the FBI, was arrested again on Thursday for the same charges.
Smirnov, according to a court filing, was in a meeting with his attorneys in Las Vegas at the time of the second arrest. The arrest warrant issued on Thursday listed the same two charges for which he was indicted and arrested last week.
A judge had ordered on Tuesday that Smirnov be released from custody on his own recognizance, but the Department of Justice objected to the judge’s decision and filed an emergency request for the judge to reconsider Smirnov’s release.
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The judge had not yet responded to the DOJ’s request, according to the case docket, and it was therefore not immediately clear why Smirnov was arrested for the same charges a second time after having been released. The arrest warrant on Thursday was authorized through the Central District of California, the same federal district in which he was indicted last week.
This story is developing and will be updated.