In one of his final acts as President, Donald Trump pardoned Vermillion native Paul Erickson, a former conservative operative once romantically linked to Russian agent Maria Butina. Erickson had pleaded guilty to fraudulent investment schemes that had nothing to do with Russia or the agent The White house characterized Erickson’s conviction as “based off the Russian collusion hoax”. Erickson had pled guilty to wire fraud and money laundering.
