January 15, 2019 • Page 10 shop online at www.missourivalleyshopper.com 2019 May Be Challenging Year For Vermillion Native Erickson BY DAVID LIAS david.lias@plaintalk.net A Russian agent who has lectured students on the University of South Dakota campus and visited with young teenage Republicans at their camp in the Black Hills may find that things will be looking up in the new year after spending nearly half of 2018 in federal custody. In contrast, 2019 may be not such a good year for Maria Butina’s boyfriend, Paul Erickson, a native of Vermillion. If recent major news reports are accurate, Erickson could find himself facing charges very similar to the ones that prompted Butina’s arrest last summer. Butina took a plea deal and pleaded guilty Dec. 13 in Washington, D.C. She acknowledged conspiring with a Russian official and someone else described as “U.S. Person 1” to infiltrate and influence American political groups on behalf of Russia, without required registration as a foreign agent. “U.S. Person 1” is widely believed to be Erickson. The 30-year-old Butina, once a graduate student at American University, was arrested in July and charged with working as an unregistered foreign agent on behalf of the Kremlin. Prosecutors have alleged that Butina’s cultivation of connections within the upper echelons of the National Rifle Association was part of an official Kremlin effort, while her lawyers have contended she was just a starry-eyed student “fantasizing about a future career in diplomacy and jabbering about personal events and peacebuilding aspirations.” A recently vacated “gag order” related to Butina’s prosecution could negatively affect Erickson, prosecutors have indicated, according to a Dec. 24 report in the Rapid City Journal. Butina will be sentenced at a later date and has a status conference scheduled in February; meanwhile, lawyers on each side of her case filed opposing arguments in late December about a court-ordered prohibition against speaking to the media. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who filed the order in September, vacated the order on Friday, Dec. 21, after reviewing arguments from both sides. The order had prohibited all parties in the case from making statements to the media or in other public settings that could pose a substantial likelihood of material prejudice to the case. When Chutkan vacated the order Friday, she also issued this warning: “Attorneys are reminded to adhere to Local Criminal Rule 57.7(b).” That rule, which pertains to the conduct of attorneys in criminal cases, includes some prohibitions against certain kinds of public statements and releases of information to the public. The prosecution wanted the September order to remain in place through Butina’s sentencing, for several reasons. One reason pertains to Butina’s promise, in her plea agreement, to cooperate with federal, state and local law enforcement. “Keeping the order in place through sentencing would safeguard the rights of any potential defendants who may later be charged in connection with this matter, especially if any other person is charged as a result of the defendant’s cooperation,” the prosecution wrote. The Journal has reported that there is rampant speculation that Erickson could be a future defendant. Although the identity of “U.S. Person 1” has not been formally disclosed, court documents say U.S. Person 1 and Butina cohabited. Butina’s attorney, Robert Driscoll, has described Erickson as Butina’s boyfriend. Prior to the imposition of the September “gag order,” as Driscoll describes it, he spoke at length about the Butina case in the media. He filed a document in December asking for the order to be lifted. “Because the plea has already occurred, it is hard to imagine an instance in which there could be a ‘substantial likelihood’ that a statement could influence the fair administration of justice, as the parties responsible for that administration at this point are the court, the government, and defense counsel, all of whom are sophisticated parties likely to be unaffected by media coverage,” Driscoll wrote. Driscoll did not immediately respond to messages from the Journal, and the prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia have consistently declined to comment on the Butina case while it’s pending. Erickson has kept a low profile throughout the Butina prosecution, but his lawyer, William Hurd, recently issued a statement to the media. “Paul Erickson is a good American,” the statement said. “He has done nothing to harm our country and never would.” Erickson grew up in Vermillion and has had a Sioux Falls apartment in recent years. He is a 1979 graduate of Vermillion High School who holds a bachelor’s degree from Yale and a law degree from the University of Virginia. His colorful life prior to his involvement with Butina included working as a top staffer UEL EF ! HUG NGS AVoISmell • No Noise Soke • N in Pat Buchanan’s 1992 presidential campaign, and serving as an entertainment agent for John Wayne Bobbitt after Bobbitt’s penis was infamously severed in 1993. Erickson, 57, and Butina, 30, reportedly met several years ago while she was operating a gun-rights group in Russia and was cultivating connections with American gun-rights activists. Butina’s activities brought her to South Dakota several times. She gave a lecture on the University of South Dakota campus in Vermillion in the spring of 2015. Her address at the university was entitled “The Right To Bear Arms In Russia … Where Neither Currently Exists.” Butina’s appearance was sponsored by the university’s W.O. Farber Center, The Criminal Justice Club and The Political Science League. Also, Butina has reportedly been in Yankton several times, as recently as last June. In 2016, Erickson and Butina co-founded a South Dakota-based company named Bridges LLC, according to a February report in the Rapid City Journal. The incorporation papers say nothing about the company’s purpose. The Daily Beast reported in late December that Erickson received a “target letter” from prosecutors in Washington, D.C., which said they are considering bringing charges against him under Section 951 of the U.S. code—the law barring people from secretly acting as agents of foreign governments. In mid-December, The Daily Beast reported that Butina may be gearing up to testify in another trial, according to sealed court papers briefly made public on Dec. 14. Federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C. asked to file an authorization for transportation in secrecy so that Butina could testify in an unspecified “pending criminal investigation.” The Washington Post’s Spencer Hsu first discovered and published a portion of the document on Twitter. Butina’s attorneys did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Daily Beast. As part of her plea deal, Butina agreed to cooperate “in any and all to matters as to which the Government deems this cooperation relevant.” According to Vox, Butina faces a maximum of five years in prison, though she’s unlikely to be sentenced to that amount given her deal with prosecutors. Butina acknowledged in court that she will likely be deported after she’s sentenced, which won’t happen until after she’s done cooperating with prosecutors. Much of Butina’s activities were out in the open — she attended NRA events and other events frequented by conservatives, and even asked then-candidate Donald Trump a question about Russian sanctions at a campaign event in July 2015. Butina’s cooperation with prosecutors may yield more insights about the scope of her activities, and about her American contacts. BUTINA WANTED TO MAKE CONTACTS Butina, by pleading guilty, admitted that she tried to “establish unofficial lines of communication with Americans having power and influence in US politics.” She sought those “unofficial lines” of communication for the “benefit of the Russian Federation,” acting through a Russian official, prosecutors say. Butina began her attempt to use unofficial channels to influence US politics around March 2015. She wrote a proposal suggesting she conduct outreach to the Republican Party (identified as Political Party 1 in court documents), since she believed it was in a good position to win the 2016 election. According to the court documents, Butina acted under the direction of a “Russian Official” and with the assistance of “US Person 1” on the project. The Russian official is believed to be Alexander Torshin, a Russian banker and former Russian senator with ties to Vladimir Putin, and “US Person 1” is believed to be Erickson. As Vox’s Andrew Prokop wrote: “Erickson attended the 2013 trip to Russia, and reportedly met Butina there. At some point, the two became very close. Eventually, they dated and lived together, and by 2015, they were close enough for Butina to email Erickson her proposed plan to influence American politics.” With the assistance of the Russian official and US Person 1, Butina met with NRA members and attended NRA conventions, and helped organize a conference for top NRA members to go to Moscow in December 2015. Butina also hosted “friendship dinners” for prominent Republicans, and organized a Russian delegation to attend the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, in 2017. Through it all, she communicated regularly with the person believed to be Torshin, according to court documents, reporting to him about her efforts and her observations. She also sought advice and helped plan events with the person believed to be Erickson, whose role in this — as well as potential legal exposure — is still unclear. DREAMING OF A NEW HOT TUB... No Sm Providing Sunlight Warmth Whenever & Wherever! 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