ABC News reported that Richard Pinedo was one of the lesser-known figures caught up in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 Presidential Election.

But, it said, Pinedo “played an instrumental role in a Russian troll factory’s online influence campaign during the 2016 election by unwittingly selling bank accounts to Russians.”

Pinedo pleaded guilty in February 2018 to one count of identity fraud and was sentenced to six months in prison. He was released from prison in May 2019. 

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/indictment-richard-pinedo/story?id=61149146

CNN reported that Pinedo “ran a website that sold dummy bank accounts to eBay, Facebook and other online service users having trouble with the transaction service PayPal.”

The service allowed Russians to buy ads on Facebook that they then used for to spread disinformation.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/10/politics/pinedo-mueller-sentencing/index.html#:~:text=Follow%20CNN%20Politics-,California%20fake%20ID%20salesman%20who%20helped%20Mueller,gets%20six%20months%20in%20jail&text=Richard%20Pinedo%2C%20a%20California%20computer,a%20federal%20judge%20in%20Washington.

Pinedo helped prosecutors with their investigation.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/10/politics/pinedo-mueller-sentencing/index.html#:~:text=Follow%20CNN%20Politics-,California%20fake%20ID%20salesman%20who%20helped%20Mueller,gets%20six%20months%20in%20jail&text=Richard%20Pinedo%2C%20a%20California%20computer,a%20federal%20judge%20in%20Washington.

He was the third person sentenced in the Mueller investigation.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/richard-pinedo-becomes-third-person-sentenced-mueller-probe-n918581