On July 15, 2018, Butina, while a Russian citizen residing in Washington D.C., was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and charged with conspiring to act as an unregistered Russian agent.[9] In an affidavit in support of the arrest warrant,[6] the FBI wrote that Butina sought to “exploit personal connections with U.S. persons having influence in American politics in an effort to advance the interests of the Russian Federation.”[10] Prior to her arrest, Butina, along with Torshin and Paul Erickson, an American political operative, were under investigation for their potential involvement in Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections; Torshin was also the subject of an FBI probe into whether the Russian government had attempted to illegally funnel money to the National Rifle Association in order to help Donald Trump win the presidency.[11]