The American boyfriend of an admitted Russian influence agent has been indicted in South Dakota for what prosecutors say was an unrelated investment fraud scheme.
Paul Erickson became the subject of public interest after his girlfriend, Maria Butina, was charged last year and pleaded guilty to conspiring with a senior Russian official to infiltrate American conservative political circles as an undeclared agent for the Kremlin.
[Russian woman pleads guilty to trying to forge bonds between Kremlin and conservatives]
Butina, 30, agreed to cooperate with investigators as part of a plea deal that will probably see her sent back to her native Russia. According to her plea deal, Butina began acting on behalf of the Russian government in 2015 and continued her work after moving to the United States to attend graduate school at American University in 2016.
As part of that plea, Butina admitted to working with an American political operative to forge connections with officials at the National Rifle Association, conservative leaders and 2016 presidential candidates, including Donald Trump.
The political operative has been identified by government officials as Erickson, a longtime GOP political adviser from South Dakota, who managed the 1992 presidential campaign of Pat Buchanan. Erickson’s lawyer, William Hurd, has said he is a “good American” who “has never done anything to hurt our country and never would.”
