Overstock CEO says he dated Russian agent Maria Butina, got involved in a nebulous 'Deep State' conspiracy

Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne and convicted unregistered Russian foreign agent Maria Butina were romantically involved, Byrne and Butina's lawyer Robert Driscoll confirmed to The New York Times. But it's not clear why Byrne made that relationship public, first hinting about it in a strange Overstock press release Monday, or how it relates to what he calls a "Deep State" plot involving "political espionage conducted against Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump."

Byrne's accounting of their three-year relationship is pretty straightforward: Butina introduced herself at a libertarian conference in Las Vegas in July 2015, he wasn't interested in her pitch about her Russian gun-rights group but agreed to have breakfast with her when she said the top Russian central bank official she worked for wanted Byrne to come talk about blockchain technology in Moscow. They hit it off and kept in touch over text message, and the relationship quickly became romantic once they met at a New York hotel in September 2015.

Byrne, a self-described "56-year-old bachelor," says he grew suspicious of Butina, 30 and serving 18 months in prison, and her intentions as their relationship continued. Eventually, he told the Times, he began to communicate with the FBI about their interactions, during which Butina started talking more about meeting people involved in Clinton and Trump's presidential campaigns. Their relationship was concurrent with Butina's other known romantic involvement, with Republican operative Paul Erickson.

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According to Driscoll, Byrne contacted him after Butina's sentencing and disclosed that he had been in contact with the FBI, and Byrne's story prompted him to write to Justice Department officials on July 25, claiming Byrne said he had "acted at the direction of the government and federal agents by, at their instruction, kindling a romantic relationship with her." Byrne didn't make that claim to the Times, but he did say he's still "quite fond" of Butina and he came forward because he thinks the feds mishandled its investigation of her.