Mr. Pinedo pleaded guilty this week to identity fraud, according to a statement of offense, and has been cooperating with the special counsel investigation. Other documents unsealed on Friday show that Mr. Pinedo’s plea supported the indictment of the Russian nationals.
The connection was apparently unwitting. Mr. Pinedo’s lawyer, Jeremy I. Lessem, said in an interview that Mr. Pinedo had no knowledge of his clients’ identities or motivations and “accepted full responsibility” for his actions. Mr. Pinedo had no connection to Mr. Trump, his company or his campaign, the lawyer said.
“To the extent that Mr. Pinedo’s actions assisted any individuals, including foreign nationals, with interfering in the American presidential election, it was done completely without his knowledge or understanding,” Mr. Lessem said.
In a rare statement, Peter Carr, a spokesman for the special counsel, backed up that assessment. He said that prosecutors had “no evidence and there is no allegation he was a witting participant in the Russian efforts to interfere in U.S. elections and political processes.”
A knock at the ranch-style home where Mr. Pinedo lives in suburban Santa Paula went unanswered on Friday.
According to prosecutors, Mr. Pinedo obtained thousands of bank account numbers by registering accounts in his own name or buying them in the names of others online.
Many of the accounts used stolen American identities, the authorities said. Though Mr. Pinedo “was not directly involved in the registration of these accounts using stolen identities,” they wrote, “he willfully and intentionally avoided learning about the use of stolen identities.”
And though he did not know the precise identity of his Russian clients, Mr. Pinedo “frequently” bought and sold account numbers with people he knew were outside the United States, the prosecutors said.
Several of those account numbers were ultimately sold to Russians involved in the election influence operation, the documents show. They were used by the Russians to open PayPal accounts and allowed the Russians to get around company security measures meant to verify the identity of account holders.
The PayPal accounts were then used to make purchases, including on social media accounts associated with the Internet Research Agency, the St. Petersburg-based operation at the center of the Russian disinformation campaign. In total, the Russians obtained and used 14 bank account numbers between June 2016 and March 2017. It is unclear how many were purchased from Mr. Pinedo.
“Some PayPal accounts were used to purchase advertisements on Facebook” promoting fake social media accounts created by the Russians, the papers said.
Their goal, as has now been well documented, was to sow discord in the American political process. And it included efforts designed to aid the presidential candidacy of Donald J. Trump and hurt that of his opponent, Hillary Clinton.
An archived version of a web page for Auction Essistance that appears to have been taken down shows a business offering “quick turnaround” and “competitive rates” for clients who have been barred from web marketplaces like eBay and Amazon, and from PayPal.
“We offer services that will enable you to get back onto eBay or Amazon ranging from pre-made eBay & Paypal accounts or verification tools,” the site said. “We guarantee our accounts are legitimate and not hacked or stolen like most other sellers offer.”
At the time he was running Auction Essistance, Mr. Pinedo also appears to have been working as a marketing director of SEO Distortion, a digital marketing company, according to a LinkedIn page bearing his name that was taken down late Friday. According to that profile, Mr. Pinedo received an associate degree in computer science from Ventura College in 2009.
The company’s website lists Mr. Pinedo as its chief executive and includes a brief biography and a photograph.
“Ricky Pinedo is not your typical person who has a love for technology or is computer crazed,” it reads. “His ever-changing need for more advanced challenges and goals had spawned the beginning of starting a company that hones in on bringing businesses to the world wide web.”
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