Maria Butina pleads guilty to conspiracy as agent of Russia in USA
Maria Butina pleads guilty to conspiracy as agent of Russia in USA
Maria Butina, who was indicted on a charge of conspiracy to influence American politics, pleaded guilty and is working with prosecutors.
USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – Russian national Maria Butina pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiring to act as an agent for the Kremlin without registering in the U.S.
Under the plea agreement, Butina said she would cooperate with federal prosecutors. She reached the deal after U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan added a public defender to her legal team Friday.
Butina, 30, was charged in a years-long effort to infiltrate political groups on behalf of the Kremlin, including the National Rifle Association. The plea agreement stated that Butina "agreed and conspired, with a Russian government official and at least one other person... to act in the United States under the direction of (the) official" without notifying the Justice Department as the law requires.
The Russian official, according to the description in court documents, matches Alexander Torshin, deputy governor of the Russian Central Bank and a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The plea agreement said that under his direction she “sought to establish unofficial lines of communication with Americans having power and influence over U.S. politics.”
The case was brought by the U.S. Attorney's Office in the District of Columbia, not by Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian interference with the 2016 election.
Butina has been in jail in northern Virginia since she was charged in July. Prosecutors accused her of interacting with groups such as the NRA, and exploiting those connections to try to advance Russian interests.
Wearing a dark green short-sleeved jail smock over torn white long-sleeved shirt and green pants, Butina announced her plea. She faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Defense lawyers said guidelines call for up to six months.
Butina’s Russian gun rights group called “Right to Bear Arms” hosted a delegation of former NRA presidents, board members and major donors in Moscow in 2015, where she appeared to arrange a meeting between NRA insiders and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Prosecutors alleged Butina was in regular contact with her Russian backers, including Torshin, a Kremlin-linked banker sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury. At one court hearing, prosecutors showed a photo of Butina dining with a Russian diplomat suspected of being an intelligence officer.
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