Thread by @timkmak

Reading newly pub'd court docs on Paul Erickson, the boyfriend of Maria Butina, the Russian agent who sought to inflitrate the NRA.

Affidavit: "It appears Erickson has obtained approximately $2.2 million from 76 investors," but didn't use this $ for projects he said he would

Paul Erickson obtained investor $ to build retirement centers, produce specialized wheel chairs, and to build housing for oil workers in the Bakken Oil Region of N Dakota

Paul Erickson didn't come to the attention of the FBI through Maria Butina, acc to this affadavit

He got their attention all on his own.

Someone selling land in N Dakota got a call from investors who said they had paid Erickson for those parcels of land.

Affidavit: "Money given to Erickson was not used to invest in real estate, wheelchairs or nursing homes. Instead, the money was used on flights, motels and other personal expenses."

Erickson told an investor he would get up to 75% return in one year! The investor provided $100K.

The investment was not put into real estate, but instead used to pay off a previous investor, now ex-Rep. Mark Sanford of S.C.

Some of the money also went to Maria Butina

One of Erickson's alleged schemes involves fraudulently raising $$ for the Dignity Wheelchair, which lets people use the bathroom without being lifted out of the chair

Money raised ostensibly for this went to pay Maria Butina's tuition at American University

Erickson told investors that Rep. Mark Sanford had invested in the Dignity Wheelchair, which lured more $$ in

(Sanford had invested in the oil fields scheme, an equally unwise decision as it turns out)

Was Butina ever aware of what her boyfriend was doing with investors? That's not a Q answered in this affidavit

But Butina did register for an LLC with Erickson, as I pointed out in my story back in Feb 2017

thedailybeast.com/the-kremlin-an…

You can read the whole Paul Erickson affidavit, filed by an FBI special agent, here.

/end thread

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