Prosecutors want Maria Butina to serve 18 months, exceeding expectations

(CNN) Prosecutors have gone beyond previous expectations to ask for 18 months of jail time for Maria Butina in a case where they've alleged scandalous actions -- and had to walk back some of them -- yet still accuse the Russian woman of seeking to hurt the US in her work as a foreign agent.

"Activities at issue in this case are part of Russia's broader scheme to acquire information and establish relationships and communication channels that can be exploited to the Russian Federation's benefit," prosecutors wrote in their pre-sentencing memo Friday.

Prosecutors wrote that Butina was not a traditional spy or "trained intelligence officer," but sought to help Russia at the expense of US national security. They call her an "access agent" -- a person used by her foreign government to attempt to set up a backchannel through Republican organizations for communication and diplomacy.

"Had she successfully done so, the risks to the United States would have included harm to this country's political processes, internal government dealings, and US foreign policy interests," the prosecutors wrote.



https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/04/19/politics/butina-sentencing-filing/index.html