DOJ indicts 2 RT media affiliated Russians, accuses them of laundering $10m to conservative company Tenet Media to 'sow division' in US

The Department of Justice on Wednesday levied an indictment against Russian nationals 31-year-old Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and 27-year-old Elena Afanasyeva "with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and conspiracy to commit money laundering." The indictment was unsealed in the Southern District of New York and both RT employees are currently at large.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland alleges in a statement that Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva were creators of a $10 million "scheme to create and distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging." Dave Rubin, Benny Johnson, Lauren Southern, Matt Christiansen, Tayler Hansen, and Tim Pool were all receiving funding from Tenet Media as contributing talent. Rubin left Tenet several months ago.

The charge is that RT, previously known as Russia Today, is accused of laundering $10 million to fund Tenet Media, a Nashville-based company founded and owned by influencer Lauren Chen and her husband Liam Davidson. Tenet funded content creators who already had their own properties and programming and backed their efforts. Tenet also created its own content on social media platforms. This content, Garland claims, was intended to sow division in the American public.

The content creators who received funding from Tenet Media were not named in the indictment and were not determined to be complicit in the operation.

Tim Pool, whose Culture War YouTube show has been sponsored by Tenet Media, released a statement on X: "My statement regarding allegations and the DOJ Indictment: 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.

"The Culture War Podcast was licensed by Tenet Media, it existed well before any license agreement with Tenet and it will continue to exist after any such agreement expires. The only change with the agreement was that the location of the live broadcast moved to Tenet's Youtube Channel. I and TCW never produced any content for Tenet Media. Never at any point did anyone other than I have full editorial control of the show and the contents of the show are often apolitical. Examples include discussing spirituality, dating, and videos games. 

"The show is produced in its entirety by our local team without input from anyone external to the company TCW is separate company not associated with http://Timcast.com or other properties. It exists solely for the production of the Culture War Podcast. That being said, we still do not know what is true as these are only allegations. Putin is a scumbag, Russia sucks donkey balls. And to the journalists who wish to jump the gun, create their own narrative, or lie about what is currently going on, you can eat my irish ass."

Editors for The Post Millennial and Human Events have appeared on Pool's Timcast IRL, which is a separate entity from The Culture War.

Tenet Media "never disclosed to its viewers that it was funded and directed by RT," the DOJ alleges in the indictment. Neither did Tenet "or its two founders register with the Attorney General as an agent of a foreign principal." Chen and Davidson have not commented publicly or been charged with any crimes as of Wednesday.

Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva are alleged to have posed as editors under false names, with Afanasyeva using the false names of both Helena Shudra and Victoria Pesti to direct and post content. They were said to have funneled $9.7 million in funding from RT through shell companies in Turkey, the UAE and Mauritius to Tenet Media. The notes on the wires claimed to be payment for electronics, the DOJ states in the indictment.

Johnson also made a statement on X, saying: "A statement on the leaked DOJ indictment today: A year ago, a media startup pitched my company to provide content as an independent contractor. Our lawyers negotiated a standard, arms length deal, which 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."

Dave Rubin also issued a statement, saying "These allegations clearly show that I and other commentators were the victims of this scheme. I knew absolutely nothing about any of this fraudulent activity. Period. ‘People of the Internet’ was a silly show covering viral videos which ended four months ago. The DoJ has never contacted me regarding this matter and I have no intention to comment further. This screenshot directly from the indictment speaks for itself…"

The indictment alleges that Afanasyeva falsely told contributors and content creators that the company was "sponsored by a private investor named 'Eduard Grigoriann.' In truth and in fact, Grigoriann was a fictional persona." It states that "Eduard Grigoriann" was mentioned during contract negotiations with content creators. It also alleges that the founders of Tenet, Chen and Davidson, "worked together" with Afanasyeva "to deceive two U.S. online commentators ('Commentator-1' and 'Commentator-2'), who respectively have over 2. 4 million and 1.3 million You Tube subscribers."

The indictment continues: "RT is a Russian state-funded and state-directed media outlet. As RT's editor-in-chief has publicly acknowledged, 'since RT receives budget from the state, it must complete tasks given by the state.' For nearly two decades, RT has promoted the objectives of the Government of Russia by publishing disinformation and propaganda, leveraging its international network to amplify the Government of Russia's message to foreign audiences, and using its guise as a conventional media outlet to lend credibility to that message."

The charges against Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva are "conspiracy to violate FARA, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. If convicted, a federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors."

"There’s one thing I don’t understand: if they finally kick us out, how will they conduct the next elections?" Head of RT Margarita Simonyan posted on X, mocking the DOJ and the indictment. "They have no other scenarios at all, except to sink the competitor, scaring the penguins with his connections with the almighty RT."

The indictment comes after the DOJ stated on Wednesday that they would be going after foreign actors who seek to disrupt U.S. elections.

u.s. v. Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva Indictment 0 by The Post Millennial on Scribd