Erickson, already mixed up in Russia probe, is charged with wire fraud and money laundering
A South Dakota man has been charged with wire fraud and money laundering just two months after his girlfriend pleaded guilty to acting as an illegal foreign agent for Russia.
Paul Erickson, 56, of Sioux Falls, was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury on 11 counts of wire fraud and money laundering, according to a news release issued Wednesday by Ron Parsons, the U.S. attorney for South Dakota.
Erickson appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark A. Moreno on Wednesday and pleaded not guilty.
The maximum penalty upon conviction is up to 20 years in federal prison for each count, a $250,000 fine for wire fraud, a $500,000 fine for money laundering, three years of supervised release, and up to $1,100 to the Federal Crime Victims Fund. Restitution may also be ordered.
The indictment alleges that on or about 1996 through August 2018, Erickson knowingly and unlawfully devised a scheme and artifice to defraud and to obtain money from many victims by means of false and fraudulent pretense, representations and promises.
Erickson owned and operated Compass Care Inc., Investing with Dignity LLC, and an unnamed venture to develop land in the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota. Erickson allegedly made various false and fraudulent representations to individuals located in South Dakota and elsewhere to induce those investors to give him money to invest in his businesses, as part of a scheme to defraud them and personally enrich himself.
The investigation is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey C. Clapper is prosecuting the case.
Erickson was released on a bond of an undisclosed amount. A trial date has not been set.
In December, Erickson's 30-year-old girlfriend, Maria Butina, pleaded guilty to acting as a foreign agent for her home country of Russia. She is awaiting sentencing.
Court documents in Butina's case repeatedly reference an alleged co-conspirator identified as U.S. Person 1, who is Erickson. But as of Wednesday, he had not been criminally charged for any Russia-related activities with Butina. The Butina case in Washington, D.C., and the wire-fraud and money laundering case against Erickson in South Dakota are technically separate cases, but court documents in the Butina case have indicated she was cooperating with investigators in South Dakota and was providing them with information about Erickson.
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