Maria Butina, the woman charged over the summer with being a clandestine Russian agent, may be negotiating a plea deal, federal prosecutors and her lawyers signaled in a court filing Friday.
The lawyers disclosed in a joint court filing that Butina is negotiating a “potential resolution” to her criminal case, meaning they are working toward a possible plea deal or some other conclusion to the case.
Butina was arrested in July and charged with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act by acting as an unregistered Russian agent within the United States.
Federal prosecutors have alleged Butina attempted to create a back channel of communications between Republicans and Russian officials by cultivating relationships with the National Rifle Association and other important figures in conservative politics, all while using her status as a student at American University as a cover.
Her lawyer, Robert Driscoll, has argued she was just interested in networking with people who were influential in American politics.
In Friday’s court filing, the two sides asked a judge to postpone a hearing scheduled for early December to allow “negotiations regarding potential resolution of this matter” to carry on.
