{"id":179161,"date":"2025-04-09T18:25:14","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T18:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/business\/legal\/exportlawblog-tinker-tailor-dinner-planner-spy\/"},"modified":"2025-04-09T18:25:14","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T18:25:14","slug":"exportlawblog-tinker-tailor-dinner-planner-spy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=179161","title":{"rendered":"ExportLawBlog \u00bb Tinker, Tailor, Dinner Planner, Spy"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

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\"Vladimir<\/span>Prosecutions for violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (\u201cFARA\u201d) might kindly be thought of as press ops for prosecutors and catnip for reporters.\u00c2\u00a0 And the recent indictment of Maria Butina certainly fits that description:\u00c2\u00a0 Spies!\u00c2\u00a0 Sex!\u00c2\u00a0 Twitter exchanges!\u00c2\u00a0 Red Sparrow!\u00c2\u00a0 A duped \u201cboyfriend\u201d!!!\u00c2\u00a0 Sell me the movie rights now.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, economic sanctions prosecutions are boring.\u00c2\u00a0 Specially Designated Nationals . . . yawn.\u00c2\u00a0 The International Emergency Economic Powers Act\u00c2\u00a0. . . big yawn.<\/p>\n

But the, ahem, sex appeal of a FARA case as opposed to an IEEPA case may well be a possible explanation for why Butina was indicted under FARA rather than under IEEPA for having performed services in the United States on behalf of a Russian SDN.\u00c2\u00a0 It seems to me that the FARA case has some significant difficulties whereas the IEEPA case approaches being a slam dunk.<\/p>\n

To simplify matters somewhat, to prosecute Butina for failing to register as a foreign agent, the government needs to prove that she engaged in political activities on behalf of a foreign person in the United States.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0The Act defines \u201cpolitical activities\u201d as<\/p>\n

\n

any activity that the person engaging in believes will, or that the person intends to, in any way influence any agency or official of the Government of the United States or any section of the public within the United States with reference to formulating, adopting, or changing the domestic or foreign policies of the United States or with reference to the political or public interests, policies, or relations of a government of a foreign country or a foreign political party.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But the affidavit<\/a> in support of the criminal complaint against Butina, which provides the most detailed statement of the government\u2019s case, summarizes Butina\u2019s activities in the United States as follows:<\/p>\n

\n

BUTINA\u2019s efforts in the United States to promote the political interests of the Russian Federation were diverse and multifaceted, including BUTINA\u2019s efforts to organize a series of\u201dfriendship and dialogue\u201d dinners, some of which are believed to have taken place in the District of Columbia, as well as BUTINA\u2019s attendance at two National Prayer Breakfasts in the District of Columbia.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It certainly seems to me that going to two prayer breakfasts and arranging dinners probably don\u2019t constitute \u201cpolitical activities.\u201d\u00c2\u00a0 But perhaps the government thinks that if it can put a Russian in the dock and yell \u201cSpy!\u201d enough times, the jury won\u2019t be bothered with such legal niceties as the proper outlines of \u201cpolitical activities\u201d under the law.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the criminal complaint provides detailed information on Butina\u2019s interactions with her handler in Moscow, who was not named, but is almost certainly<\/a> Alexander Torshin.\u00c2\u00a0 Torshin was placed on OFAC\u2019s SDN List on April 6, 2018.\u00c2\u00a0 To prove a violation of the Ukraine sanctions, it would only be necessary to show that Butina provided \u00c2\u00a0\u201cfunds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of\u201d Torshin.\u00c2\u00a0 The definition of providing services is, of course, significantly broader than the definition of \u201cpolitical activities\u201d in FARA.<\/p>\n

Now although the actions in the criminal complaint pre-date Torshin\u2019s designation in April 2018, there is no reason to believe that Butina was not continuing to act on Torshin\u2019s behalf after his designation.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0The complaint details actions by Butina in cooperation with Torshin as late February 8, 2017. Of course, there is a chance that government has no evidence after the designation or has reasons not to reveal such evidence, but I still think that a sanctions case, if there were services performed after April 6, 2018, would be a\u00c2\u00a0much easier case to win.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t<\/plusone> \"\"Permalink<\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Bookmark<\/a><\/div>\n


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\nCopyright \u00a9 2018 Clif Burns. All Rights Reserved.
\n(No republication, syndication or use permitted without my consent.)<\/i>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prosecutions for violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (\u201cFARA\u201d) might kindly be thought of as press ops for prosecutors and catnip for reporters.\u00c2\u00a0 And the recent indictment of Maria Butina certainly fits that description:\u00c2\u00a0 Spies!\u00c2\u00a0 Sex!\u00c2\u00a0 Twitter exchanges!\u00c2\u00a0 Red Sparrow!\u00c2\u00a0 A duped \u201cboyfriend\u201d!!!\u00c2\u00a0 Sell me the movie rights now. On the other hand, economic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":179162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[1659,25887,38231,22392,65707,29033],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-179161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal","tag-dinner","tag-exportlawblog","tag-planner","tag-spy","tag-tailor","tag-tinker"],"yoast_head":"\nExportLawBlog \u00bb Tinker, Tailor, Dinner Planner, Spy - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=179161\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ExportLawBlog \u00bb Tinker, Tailor, Dinner Planner, Spy - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Prosecutions for violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (\u201cFARA\u201d) might kindly be thought of as press ops for prosecutors and catnip for reporters.\u00c2\u00a0 And the recent indictment of Maria Butina certainly fits that description:\u00c2\u00a0 Spies!\u00c2\u00a0 Sex!\u00c2\u00a0 Twitter exchanges!\u00c2\u00a0 Red Sparrow!\u00c2\u00a0 A duped \u201cboyfriend\u201d!!!\u00c2\u00a0 Sell me the movie rights now. 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