Russian graduate student Maria Butina, who found herself at the center of a preposterously complicated and entirely fictional spying case, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison on the only charge prosecutors were able to make stick, failing to register as a foreign agent for Russia.

Prosecutors must see this as a clear failure, originally starting with elaborate allegations about Butina being a spy who used sex to infiltrate Republican circles, before ultimately having to back away from almost everything they originally claimed.

Even the charge that stuck, violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) was an incredibly flimsy charge, built around her having seemingly unofficial contact with some Russian officials and an interest in gun rights that had her active in the NRA.