Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I was promised a recession.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Bark louder, little dog.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

This blog will pay for itself.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Republicans in disarray!

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Infrastructure week. at last.

You are here: Home / Economics / Grifters Gonna Grift / Late Night Point & Mock Open Thread: Russiagate ‘Butina Boyfriend’ Paul Erickson Going to Jail

Late Night Point & Mock Open Thread: Russiagate ‘Butina Boyfriend’ Paul Erickson Going to Jail

by | 76 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

And he didn’t even offer Dear Leader a finder’s fee! Per the local Argus Leader:

A Sioux Falls man who used his connections in the conservative movement to help his Russian girlfriend gain political access was sentenced Monday to serve seven years in federal prison.

Paul Erickson was not charged with any wrongdoing involving his efforts to help Maria Butina make inroads with political contacts. Instead, he was accused of defrauding investors in various schemes over the last 20 years.

Butina, a young woman who portrayed herself as a gun rights activist, was deported last fall after serving time for failing to register as a foreign agent. Her role in his downfall did not come up Monday.

Erickson came under the scrutiny of federal investigators who were monitoring Butina. That scrutiny lead to an investigation of his various business enterprises, which existed to defraud investors. For example, Erickson had defrauded conservative investors starting in the late 1990s out of a company called Compass Care, which promised to build Christian-based nursing homes. He also had a venture in the Bakken Oil Fields in North Dakota that he used to defraud investors, according to his indictment. It was the Bakken incident that lead Erickson to plead guilty…

Erickson, a Yale University graduate who went on to earn a law degree from the University of Virginia, became involved in Republican politics during the Reagan adminitration. He worked briefly for Sen. Jim Abdnor, the Republican who beat George McGovern in the 1980 election. The Vermillion native traveled the world to historic events, including to the Berlin Wall when it was torn down and to Nicaragua, where he met anti-communist fighters there…

The Reagan administration was truly a gold-star opportunity for grifting, treason, and general malfeseance.

Clint Sargent, Erickson’s lawyer, argued Monday for Erickson to be confined at home. While unusual, Sargent said that Erickson had recently undergone a heart valve replacement, putting him at greater risk if he contracts coronavirus.

Jeff Clapper, an assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting the case, resisted the motion, saying the Bureau of Prisons could take appropriate action to screen and protect inmates.

Schreier sided with the government. She said she arrived at the courthouse Monday morning at the same time Erickson did.

“He walked in without a mask,” Schreier said, noting that if Erickson were so concerned with coronavirus, he would have taken the precaution of wearing one…

Butina’s gone back to Russia, but here’s hoping her boyfriend will be bitter enough to give up some dirt on his NRA contacts.

Reader Interactions

76Comments

  6. 6.

    NotMax

    defrauding investors in various schemes over the last 20 years.

    So not exactly Russian to judgment.

    ;)

  7. 7.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    It’s grifters all the way down. Also, Yale, completely living down to my expectations.

    I just dyed my hair purple. (The box said “Ultraviolet” but whatever.)

    For context, I am a nearly 60-year-old gray-haired white lady with a habitually fierce expression, aka RBF, and a wardrobe full of nice business clothes for which I now have no use. I’m stuck working at home (which I hate) until at least July 2021. M. Colette just took off for a camping trip and my back hurts too much to go along. I needed an antidote.

  8. 8.

    sanjeevs

    Son has an offer from a very good university in the US  (International Student).

    Looks increasingly likely he’ll be going to one of his backups (Australia or Canada) instead.

    It’s not just today’s news on visas, also other countries are just dealing with the virus better so are likely to restart in-person classes earlier than the US.

    Same with many in his class.

  10. 10.

    Chetan Murthy

    @NotMax: We’re spending too much money chasing down pot dealers, and not enough chasing down white-collar fraudsters.  Defund the police, fund the IRS, SEC, et al.

  12. 12.

    Parfigliano

    I so hope Biden’s Justice Dept takes a long hard look into the NRA-RUSSIA-GOP crap

  13. 13.

    RandomMonster

    Huckster cons easy mark conservatives out of money. The only thing newsworthy here is that he got caught.

  14. 14.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @sanjeevs: I’m sorry to hear that, although glad for his and your  sake that he has alternatives. It’s a loss for the US.

  18. 18.

    Chetan Murthy

    @sanjeevs: May I ask: where was the school in the US?  I mean, which state and/or city?  Just curious.

    Regardless, it’s the right decision.  Honestly, forget the question of whether schools start in-person classes again.  It’s not even clear that it’ll be -safe-.  We’re heading into some -dark- times, with zero leadership from our rulers and many of our people just plain intransigently stupid and selfish.

  20. 20.

    frosty

    “He walked in without a mask,” Schreier said, noting that if Erickson were so concerned with coronavirus, he would have taken the precaution of wearing one…

    Oopsie. Maybe that wasn’t the place to let your ideology govern your actions.

  24. 24.

    Chetan Murthy

    @sanjeevs: Aha.  UCB.  Great school: I’m guessing your son is smart as a whip, and I’m sorry he’ll be going to Canada or Australia.  But even here in Northern California, covid isn’t under control.  Nobody knows what the future portends, and my family and I are all hunkered-down, prepared (along with friends) to do so for the next year or more.

  27. 27.

    Jeffro

    @sanjeevs: it’s ridiculous.  Higher Ed is one of the few remaining major US ‘export’ industries left, and one where we have a huge lead on other countries.

    Oh well, freedumb and all that!  Thanks, Stephen Miller!

  31. 31.

    sanjeevs

    @Chetan Murthy: Yeah we were disappointed to see the numbers trending back up in California. Newsom seemed to have a handle on it but its tough if the rest of the country is just ignoring it..

  33. 33.

    Achrachno

    I just want to know the names of the defrauded R congressman and the RW commentator.  I guess I have some pettiness in me.  :-)

  36. 36.

    Leto

    @sanjeevs: @Yutsano: if I may make a counter proposal: Australia. Canada gets cold. In scientific terms, it gets as cold as a witch’s tit. Very accurate unit of measurement. Comparable to Kelvin but more accurate.

  37. 37.

    Chetan Murthy

    @sanjeevs: It’s of no use to you, to regale you with Newsom’s fecklessness.  So I won’t.  But regardless, you’re making the right decision.  Nobody knows what the state of the epidemic will be in America, in different parts of America, in the fall.  But all portents are, it’ll be -bad-.  Really bad.  You want to go to a place with a functioning government.

  39. 39.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @Leto: I believe the wind chill factor is expressed as “colder than a witch’s titty in a brass brassiere.”

    At least that’s what my daddy taught me.

    Although he also says “colder than your mother’s heart,” so he may be confusing Imperial and metric.

  40. 40.

    gwangung

    @Jeffro:  We HAD a big lead.

    But Trump has systematically destroyed almost every industry where the US was a leader and erased every bit of advantage we had economically, educationally and culturally.

  42. 42.

    Yutsano

    @Leto: Sure. Spit all over my homeland why don’t you? :P

    And on a slightly different subject: I have always thought that since Canada Day and Independence Day are so close that we should open our borders to each other (within reason) from the 1st through the 4th and just have a massive 4 day party on the longest peaceful border on the Earth. Granted I want to walk normally again too and that’s probably just as possible. But I’m ultimately an idealist.

  47. 47.

    Jeffro

    @gwangung: not going to defend the slime ball, but many of our advantages in trade and industry were trending downward before he stole office.

    Higher ed is one that has happened solely, and dramatically, on his ‘watch’.

  48. 48.

    JaySinWA

    Okay I was looking for an open thread but here’s a twitter bleg for authors to make their pitch:

     

    Who has recs for some new chapter books or graphic novels for 12 yos who are into magic-y themes.— Clara Jeffery (@ClaraJeffery) July 7, 2020

  49. 49.

    Leto

    @Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
    I have not heard of that extra unit of measurement. Going with Imperial…

    @Yutsano:
    I definitely like the idea. Not sure if you’re prepared to have a few million extra couch guests, but I’m sure we can figure everything oot. (Getting my practice in now)

  51. 51.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Leto:

    Canada gets cold. In scientific terms, it gets as cold as a witch’s tit.

    With global warming, less and less every year, though, eh?  I went to grad school in Ithaca, NY, and sure, it was cold. But hey, there was skating!  (and “skiing” — of a sort, heh heh).  Canada has all sort of winter sports.  Fun!  Fun!  And are there ANY Australian life-forms that aren’t deadly to humans?  What?  maybe Koalas?  I can’t think of anything else — even the kangaroos will literally kick your ass.

  52. 52.

    frosty

    @Comrade Colette Collaboratrice:

    If I can remember correctly via Gravity’s Rainbow:

    “It’s …

    Colder than a nipple on a witch’s tit!

    Colder than a bucket of penguin shit!

    Colder than the hairs on a polar bear’s ass!

    Colder than the frost on a champagne glass!”

    That Pynchon guy was a great lyricist.

  55. 55.

    Leto

    @Chetan Murthy: True, but who wants to spend 10/12 months bundled up against the blech? Can only winter sport for so long before you realize you could be doing all that at the beach :P

  56. 56.

    Punchy

    Wait….he pled guilty?  So that means the DoJ is going to walk away and allow him to go free, right?

  58. 58.

    Leto

    @Yutsano:

    They also have chlamydia, hence the John Oliver Last Week Tonight Koala Chlamydia Ward at the Australian zoo. That was a wild episode.

  62. 62.

    Redshift

    Y’know, it’s a little embarrassing that Republicans have had so much success over the years considering how much of the party seems to be devoted solely to ripping off other parts.

  63. 63.

    Viva BrisVegas

    @Chetan Murthy: And are there ANY Australian life-forms that aren’t deadly to humans?

    At least we don’t have any face eating grizzly bears.

    In a not at all relevant aside, two swimmers were killed by sharks in the last couple of weeks, and that’s in winter!

  67. 67.

    Jay

    @sanjeevs:

    Vancouver, UBC or SFU, Victoria,

    mild winters, (below freezing is rare), tons of green space, wilderness, good schools, lots of Canadian-South Asians for food, language, community, support.

  68. 68.

    oatler.

    @frosty:
    A pig is a jolly companion,
    Boar, sow, barrow, or gilt —
    A pig is a pal, who’ll boost your morale,
    Though mountains may topple and tilt.
    When they’ve black balled, bamboozled, and burned you,
    When they’ve turned on you, Tory and Whig,
    Though you may be thrown over by Tabby and Rover,
    You’ll never go wrong with a pig, a pig,
    You’ll never go wrong with a pig!
     

  69. 69.

    sgrAstar

    @sanjeevs: ooh, so sorry to hear about your son prudently turning down my gobsmackingly great alma mater, UC Berkeley. I am very involved there as an alum- we are all hoping that, somehow, we can keep that mighty ship afloat. Best of luck. And Go Bears.

     

    ?

  70. 70.

    blacque_jacques

    @Chetan Murthy: My girkfriend is Australian and has survived well into adulthood. Her sister has a house in the far north with a view of what might as well be called Box Jellyfish Bay.

     

    I used to be terrified of Aussie fauna until I remembered that I grew up in the Texas Gulf Coast, home to water moccasins, copperheads and the odd rattlesnake, Black Widow spiders and Brown Recluse spiders, the latter being the same as the Australian fiddleback. My dad saved my little brother from being chomped by a cottonmouth, by chopping it in half with a machete, and once I saw a Black Widow. That was it in my 33 years there. Remembering this cured me.

    (On the other hand, it took a little longer to shed worries of passing through Malaysia or Singapore, only to have some dope mule stuff his cargo in my suitcase or carry bag while I wasn’t looking and me being caught and hanged for it. I watched a lot of TV movies about that in the 1990s.)

  73. 73.

    Cermet

    @Leto: Last I checked, Witch’s are warm, caring and loving people hardly worthy of such a sick comment; but then, religious sicko types that started that shit and murdered so many innocent woman for the crime of helping people  – stop continuing such a really sick tradition.

Comments are closed.