The FBI has found evidence that the Russian woman arrested on charges of conspiracy against the U.S. and being an unregistered agent for Russia’s government had ties to Russian intelligence.
Federal prosecutors made the argument that Maria Butina, 29, also has an “incentive to flee” the United States pending trial.
Deborah A. Robinson, a magistrate judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, ordered Butina — who appeared in an orange jumpsuit — jailed pending trial following an appearance Wednesday afternoon.
Butina, a Russian national who entered the U.S. in 2016 on a student visa to study at American University, worked with a Russian official likely to be Alexander Torshin, a friend of Russian President Vladmir Putin. She was arrested Sunday and indicted Tuesday on charges of conspiracy against the U.S. and acting as an unregistered foreign agent of the Russian government.
She pleaded not guilty to all charges.
In court documents filed before Butina’s appearance Wednesday in Washington, federal prosecutors alleged she was connected to high-profile members of the National Rifle Association, and was in regular contact with the FSB, the Russian intelligence agency that replaced the Soviet-era KGB.
They also alleged Butina attempted to offer sex in exchange for a position with a special interest political organization she targeted during her time in the U.S., when she was working for Torshin.
The person, “U.S. Person 1,” is suspected to be Paul Erickson, a longtime GOP operative. Though Butina expressed “disdain” for having to live with him, the court filing revealed, her lawyer argued Wednesday that she was set to move to South Dakota this summer to do just that.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Erik Kenerson said that after executing a search warrant at Butina’s home in April, they learned Butina “was in contact with officials believed to be Russian intelligence operatives.”
“Because Butina has been exposed as an illegal agent of Russia, there is the grave risk that she will appeal to those within that government with whom she conspired to aid her escape from the United States,” federal prosecutors wrote in their Wednesday filing.
The filing also said she is connected to someone worth $1.2 billion known as her “funder.”
In court, Kenerson argued that the U.S. does not have an extradition treaty with Russia, so if she were to go the country’s consulate in Washington or be driven to the border by a diplomatic vehicle, law enforcement would have no jurisdiction and she could easily flee the country.
Kenerson laid out the timeline of Butina’s involvement the U.S., starting with when she first made contact with “U.S. Person 1” in November 2014.
Butina’s “funder” told her in December 2014: “I want you to go to work with the United States, not go on a tourist trip,” and a week later, she was in the U.S. on a tourist visa.
Between January 2015 and May 2016, she made a series of tourists trips to the U.S. before she applied for a student visa on May 31, 2016, Kenerson said.
Then in early 2015 to late 2016, she had a series of conversations and meetings facilitated by Torshin related to political persons and organizations, even taking a picture during President Trump’s inauguration on January 20, 2017, in front of the U.S. Capitol.
Kenerson also described a conversation between her and Torshin in early 2017, days after Trump’s inauguration, about the National Prayer Breakfast and having Torshin give a speech.
“She was not here to just attend American University,” Kenerson argued, calling her actions a “covert intelligence campaign.” Butina’s lawyer, Robert Driscoll, argued that she should be released on her own recognizance, noting that the U.S. government’s argument could apply to “any Russian.”
Driscoll argued that her compliance with the Senate Intelligence Committee’s own investigation into Russia did not cause her to flee the country, nor did the April raid on her residence.
But in the end, the judge said the federal government properly demonstrated their argument.
“She is not an agent of the Russian government, the Russian Federation. She is innocent of the charges brought against her. Most importantly, she is a young student seeking to make her way in America,” Driscoll said following the hearing.
There is a status hearing scheduled next Tuesday at 10 a.m. before U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, who will take over the case.
