U.S. says Russia funded media company that paid right-wing influencers millions for videos
Washington — Two Russian nationals working for a news network controlled by Vladimir Putin's government funneled millions of dollars to an American media company that paid right-wing influencers for videos pushing narratives favorable to the Kremlin, U.S. prosecutors alleged on Wednesday.
An indictment unsealed in the Southern District of New York charged Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, both based in Moscow, with conspiracy to launder money and conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The indictment came as the Justice Department unveiled sprawling allegations accusing the Russian government of meddling in the 2024 U.S. elections.
The two defendants worked for RT, a media outlet formerly known as Russia Today that is funded and controlled by the Russian government, the indictment said.
Federal prosecutors said RT oversaw a series of "covert projects" that included funneling $10 million through a series of shell entities to a Tennessee-based company launched in 2023 that publishes videos on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and X, formerly known as Twitter.
"Many of the videos published by U.S. Company-1 contain commentary on events and issues in the United States, such as immigration, inflation, and other topics related to domestic and foreign policy," the indictment said. "While the views expressed in the videos are not uniform, the subject matter and content of the videos are often consistent with the Government of Russia's interest in amplifying U.S. domestic divisions in order to weaken U.S. opposition to core Government of Russia interests, such as its ongoing war in Ukraine."
Though the company is not named in the indictment, prosecutors said that it describes itself as a "network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues" and features six commentators as its "talent." Tenet Media uses the same phrase in its description on its website, and other details in the indictment align with the firm. Its website lists six right-wing personalities, including Dave Rubin, who has more than 2.4 million YouTube subscribers; Tim Pool, a podcast host with more than 1.3 million YouTube followers; and Benny Johnson, whose YouTube channel has nearly 2.4 million subscribers.
On Thursday evening, a YouTube spokesperson told CBS News in a statement that "after careful review" it was "terminating the Tenet Media channel and four channels operated by its owner, Lauren Chen, as part of our ongoing efforts to combat coordinated influence operations."
The investigation into the matter was ongoing, according to YouTube.
Records with the Tennessee Secretary of State's Office show that Tenet Media incorporated on Jan. 19, 2022, the same date of incorporation mentioned in the indictment, and is headquartered in Nashville. It was founded by Liam Donovan and his wife, Lauren Chen. The founders are referred to as Founder-1 and Founder-2 in the indictment and prosecutors said they jointly run the company.
In response to the indictment of the two Russians, Pool wrote on social media, "Should these allegations prove true, I as well as the other personalities and commentators were deceived and are victims. I cannot speak for anyone else at the company as to what they do or to what they are instructed." He said his podcast was licensed by Tenet Media and existed before the license agreement. Pool also said he had full editorial control of the show and its contents, which he said are "often apolitical."
Johnson said in a separate statement shared on social media that his company was pitched by a media startup a year ago to provide content as an independent contractor. He said his lawyers negotiated a "standard, arms length deal" that was later terminated.
"We are disturbed by the allegations in today's indictment, which make clear that myself and other influencers were victims in this alleged scheme. My lawyers will handle anyone who states or suggests otherwise," Johnson wrote.
Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said Thursday that the Kremlin will take action against U.S. media in the wake of the indictment, according to Reuters. She called the indictment a "witch hunt" and said it was designed to scare Americans.
"There will be a response to the actions of the United States authorities which directly contradict their obligations in the areas of providing free access to information and media pluralism," Reuters quoted Zakharova as saying.
The allegations
The indictment alleges that Tenet never disclosed to its audience that it was "funded and directed" by RT, and neither the company nor its founders registered with the Justice Department as an agent of a foreign principal. CBS News has not received a response to a request for comment from Tenet.
It claims that the two RT employees and Tenet's two founders "deceived" two U.S. internet commentators — one with more than 2.4 million YouTube subscribers and the other more than 1.3 million subscribers — and hired them to produce videos for the company, masking the source of funding from RT. Pool appears to be one of the commentators, though it's unclear whether the second is Johnson or Rubin.
The founders claimed that Tenet was sponsored by a private investor named "Eduard Grigoriann," a fake person, and created a fictitious profile of him.
Prosecutors said one of the Tenet founders began soliciting two commentators for work on behalf of "Grigoriann" around February 2023. One of the personalities, described as "Commentator-1," said he would need $5 million annually "for him to be interested" in creating videos for the fake persona, Grigoriann. The other, identified as "Commentator-2," needed $100,000 per weekly episode "to make it worth his while," according to the indictment.
The two commentators eventually entered into contracts, prosecutors said. The contract for Commentator-1 required four weekly videos that he would host and would be livestreamed by Tenet Media in exchange for $400,000 per month and a $100,000 signing bonus. Commentator-2 agreed to provide weekly videos for $100,000 apiece, the indictment states.
Once the company launched in the fall of 2023, Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva were involved in the company's day-to-day operations. Kalashnikov was introduced to employees as an outside editor, and according to the indictment, "monitored U.S. Company-1 's internal communications and edited content published by U.S. Company-1, without disclosing that he was an RT employee."
In one instance, the Justice Department alleges Afanasyeva asked one of Tenet's founders to blame Ukraine and the U.S. for a March terrorist attack at a music venue in Moscow, claiming that terrorists were detained while heading for the border with Ukraine, which she said "makes it even more suspicious why would they want to go to Ukraine to hide."
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, and a U.S. official told CBS News at the time that the U.S. had intelligence confirming the Islamic State's claims of responsibility.
Afanasyeva grew frustrated that the paid commentators were not sharing enough of Tenet's videos or promoting the company, the indictment said. She created fake personas who joined the company's Discord server and pushed creators to share at least one of the company's videos per day, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said Tenet's founders "admitted to each other in their private communications that their 'investors' were, in truth and in fact, the 'Russians.'" At one point, Founder-1 searched for "time in Moscow" on Google while awaiting a response to a message.
The Justice Department said that between October 2023 and August 2024, RT sent wire transfers from shell companies overseas to Tenet totaling more than $9.7 million, which represented almost 90% of its bank deposits. "U.S. Company-1 disbursed most of these funds to its contracted commentators, including approximately $8.7 million to the production companies of Commentator-1, Commentator-2, and Commentator-3 alone," the indictment said.
Tenet Media and RT did not immediately respond to CBS News' requests for comment on the indictment on Wednesday. CBS News also reached out to the Russian Embassy in Washington and did not receive a response.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department "will not tolerate attempts by an authoritarian regime to exploit our country's free exchange of ideas in order to covertly further its own propaganda efforts, and our investigation into this matter remains ongoing."
Robert Legare, Julia Kimani Burnham and Nicole Sganga contributed reporting.