Paul Erickson

Paul Erickson (born 1962) is an American conservative political operative, lawyer, and businessperson.

He has been involved in several Republican presidential campaigns.

In 1980, while at USD, Erickson coordinated a youth campaign for Representative Jim Abdnor.

For a year between his time at USD and Yale, Erickson served as the national treasurer of the College Republicans in Washington, D.C., whose staff at the time included Grover Norquist, Ralph Reed, and Jack Abramoff.

Abramoff later wrote, "To every college Republican who contacted the national office, Paul Erickson was by far the most impressive person they had ever encountered in politics."

He attended the University of South Dakota and then transferred to Yale University, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics and political science in 1984.

Also while in college, Erickson wrote "Fritzbusters", a comedy routine that was critical of Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale which had similarities to the then newly released film Ghostbusters (1984).

Erickson and some fellow College Republicans performed Fritzbusters at the 1984 Republican National Convention and later as a warm-up act for Ronald Reagan at some rallies during the 1984 United States presidential election.

The campaign stopped running Fritzbusters after more than 100 students wearing Fritzbusters shirts heckled Mondale in September 1984.

In addition to his political work while in college, Erickson worked in 1985 as the deputy campaign manager for Richard Viguerie’s unsuccessful campaign for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia.

Erickson earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1988.

Erickson worked as an executive producer of Red Scorpion (1988), an anticommunist action film produced by Jack Abramoff.

Frustrated by the tax increase led by President George H. W. Bush, Erickson served as the national political director / campaign manager for the 1992 presidential campaign of Pat Buchanan.

A biographer of Buchanan later said Erickson was "the best there was at the price Pat could afford."

Erickson later served as an advisor to Mitt Romney for both of his presidential campaigns.

He is also a former board member of the American Conservative Union, the group that organizes the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

He was a friend of Andrew Breitbart.

Stephen Moore, founder of the right-leaning limited-government group Club for Growth often relies on what he calls Erickson's “clever and creative ideas.” However, Lee Schoenbeck, a former Republican Watertown Representative to the South Dakota House of Representatives, has called him "the single biggest phony I’ve ever met in South Dakota politics."

Casey Phillips, a South Dakota Republican political consultant, has said of Erickson, "He likes to put people in touch with people. He’s a person that’s at the center of relationships all over the place."

From 1993 to 1994, Erickson acted as a media adviser, agent, and lawyer for John Wayne Bobbitt, whose wife Lorena had cut off his penis with a kitchen knife.

Erickson booked Bobbitt on an international "Love Hurts" tour during which Bobbitt made appearances on television shows such as The Howard Stern Show.

In 1994, Erickson obtained a $30,000 contract with Jack Abramoff to lobby for entrance into the United States by Mobutu Sese Seko, the military dictator of the Democratic Republic of the Congo who had been banned from the entering the United States due to the corrupt and dictatorial nature of his regime.

Mobutu sought a visit to the United Nations to claim credit for this offer, but his visa request was ultimately denied due to his past human rights abuses.

In 1997, Erickson founded Compass Care, a senior living company based in South Dakota dedicated to developing non-nursing home care options for seniors in the Midwest.

This venture led to senior care consulting spinoffs, independent living communities and the licensing of medical technology.

Erickson and his companies have amassed at least seven civil court judgments against them over the years.

In two such cases, lawsuits by investors in Compass Care alleged that Erickson had predicted investment returns of 25–100% but that neither investor received any returns and that Erickson had reneged on his promises to refund the original investments.

One investor won a judgment for $115,417 in 2003 while another obtained a judgment for $190,000 in 2008.

Two of Erickson's lawyers withdrew from the second case, one after Erickson wrote him a bad check.

In 2016, Erickson and Butina set up a South Dakota business named "Bridges, LLC", which Erickson later said was created to provide financial assistance for Butina's graduate studies.

He has strong ties to the National Rifle Association and Russian interests and in 2017 was subject to federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.

In November 2019, Erickson pleaded guilty to federal charges of wire fraud and money laundering in connection with an effort to defraud investors in an oil development scheme.

He was sentenced to seven years in federal prison in July 2020, but was granted a full pardon on January 19, 2021, Donald Trump's last full day in office as president of the United States.

Erickson's hometown is Vermillion, South Dakota.

On February 6, 2019, Erickson was indicted by a grand jury in the US District of South Dakota for wire fraud and money laundering in connection with his activities with Compass Care and for defrauding investors of Investing with Dignity, a start-up wheelchair development and manufacturing venture.

He pleaded not guilty and was released on bond.

In November 2019, Erickson pleaded guilty to federal charges of wire fraud and money laundering in connection with an effort to defraud investors in an oil development scheme.

He was sentenced to seven years in federal prison on July 6, 2020, and granted a full presidential pardon on January 19, 2021, Donald Trump's last full day in office as president of the United States.

Erickson has strong ties to both the National Rifle Association and the Russian gun rights community.

He has supported Maria Butina, a former assistant to Aleksandr Torshin and the founder of a Russian gun rights group called "The Right to Bear Arms".