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From Associated Press
PIERRE, SD – The US Attorney announced Wednesday that the boyfriend of a Russian woman who had confessed to being a Kremlin secret agent had been charged with fraud in South Dakota.
Paul Erickson, a 56-year-old businessman and conservative political agent, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday. According to the South Dakota Attorney 's Office, 11 counts of wire fraud and money laundering a day after his indictment. He faces up to 20 years in prison for each indictment officer. The charges seem unrelated to the case of 30-year-old Maria Butina, who pleaded guilty in December to attempting to infiltrate conservative political groups. a variety of systems for more than $ 1 million in fraudulent transactions, including the recruitment of investors for a series of seniors' homes; develop a wheelchair allowing a person to use the bathroom from the chair; and the construction of houses in the booming oil fields of North Dakota
Erickson has made misrepresentations to get people to invest in projects, according to prosecutors. An Erickson lawyer did not immediately return a phone message soliciting comment from the Associated Press.
Prior to his indictment, Erickson was involved in the very prominent case of Butina, which was separate from the investigation of the special advocate Robert Mueller on the interference of Russia. the 2016 US presidential election.
Butina acknowledged that she "was seeking to establish unofficial lines of communication with Americans having power and influence over US policy", according to her plea agreement. She admitted that her boyfriend, Erickson, had helped her while she was trying to use her links with the National Rifle Association to set up the back channels. It is unclear whether Erickson will face charges in this case. As part of her contract, Butina pleaded guilty to conspiracy to serve as an unregistered foreign agent and agreed to cooperate with the investigators.
In South Dakota, Erickson helped organize speeches for Butina to talk about freedom and entrepreneurship at a school in Sioux Falls, at the University of South Dakota and at a Republican Teen Camp organized in Black Hills
Erickson, from Vermillion, South Dakota, has had a colorful career. He was active in politics as a freshman at the University of South Dakota and became vice president of the Students Association in 1980. A profile of Erickson by the leader Sioux Falls Argous in 2003, while he was working on a campaign to defeat then- Democratic Senator Tom Daschle, said that Erickson had been forced to leave his position within the United States. student association after obtaining confidential school records and leaving them in a political campaign.
He graduated in law and obtained a law degree from the University of Virginia in 1988.
He also participated in Pat Buchanan's 1992 presidential campaign and then directed a film Action with Jack Abramoff, the former Washington lobbyist trapped in a corruption scandal in 2006.
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