I was honestly a little shocked at this one. While not supported by Senator Rounds or Governor Noem, former political operative Paul Erickson was given a “get out of jail free” card by President Trump as one of his final acts of office:
The list of South Dakotans includes Paul Erickson of Sioux Falls, who was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2020 for defrauding investors. He was also the boyfriend of Maria Butina from Russia, who was deported in 2019 after serving time for failing to register as a foreign agent. Noem and Rounds were not listed as supporters of Erickson’s pardon.
and..
Erickson was accused of defrauding investors in a proposal to develop land in the North Dakota Bakken oil field by persuading people to buy real estate and build single-family homes. One person, identified as “D.G.” in the indictment, wired $100,000 to Erickson as an investment in the project. The money laundering charge relates to transferring $1,000 of that $100,000 to someone identified as “M.B.”
Not sure what to say on that one, but “wow.”
Just professional courtesy from one con man to another.
@mhs; Hahaha, well said.
I think it’s safe to say that these are not Trump’s pardons.
By his signature on the bottom… they are in fact his.
This pardon is garbage, and on par with the lousy pardons granted to John Nystrom, Gregory, Deborah, and Martin Jorgensen, and Jessi Frease. People who committed white collar crimes (double billing for Indian School repairs, mislabeling beef, and kiting checks at the bank) and who gave nice donations to Governor Noem and Trump’s MAGA PAC were in good shape. Damn disgusting on the part of Governor Noem. Damn disgusting that you can harm society and be relieved of accountability and reckoning.
Nystrom didn’t double-bill. He heard about the double-billing and didn’t report it. Not the same.
Since the election, we sure have gotten a glimpse into Trump’s interior soul which isn’t very pretty.
And by close association, Noem’s as well.
She opposed the pardon. Nice try. Besides guilt by association being a logic fallacy and calumny, you can get help for your derangement.
She may have opposed the pardon, but she has been Trump’s most ardent supporter and enabler. And her propensity for dishonesty is well documented. They are two birds of a feather.
“Nothing to do” isn’t opposition.
You ain’t seen nothin’ yet; Biden just got in, and his is as dark as night.
The pardon request letter from Governor Noem for Jessica Hean Frease is ludicrous. Referring to former South Dakota State Senator Lynne DiSanto’s letter of support should be enough to give a person pause. DiSanto….the same woman charged in Pennington County for false reporting a strangulation? Oh, but it appears okay because Frease wants to be an outdoorswoman. Wow…bad judgment on the part of Governor Noem.
She’s been making a quite a few mistakes lately. Time for another R to challenge her.
Noem’s letter pointed out that Frease stole the money before she was 20 years old, paid it back, served her sentence, and cleaned up her act. The Frease and Nystrom pardons seem like no-brainers.
I challenge you Liberals on here to go check out Bill Clinton’s Pardon list as he left and come back and tell me how bad Trumps list is. I cannot believe the level of hypocrisy that continues to come out of everyone’s mouth when Trump does something yet so many before him have done the same or worse yet he is the bad guy. Pick a Lane people
South Dakotans know Erickson is a con man. He has shown no remorse and has been barely been in jail. The delegation and victims are opposed to his release. And Trump did this? Why?
Not a liberal….not even close…and I am sure not going to defend Bill Clinton. In fact, the ‘what about x’ argument that you wrote above is irrelevant and ignores the serious breach in ‘law and order’ that Trump and Noem allegedly associate with. This is a tremendous slap in the face of all South Dakotans, and tremendously undermines the work of the republican prosecutors who handled these cases.