Black socialist activists convicted for conspiring to work as Russian agents

Omali Yeshitela, 82, Penny Hess, 78, Jesse Nevel, 34, and Augustus C. Romain Jr, 38, all face maximum sentences of five years in prison, the Justice Department said in a press release. The Tampa, Florida jury did not find them guilty of acting as agents of a foreign government, a more serious charge, BBC reported.

The DOJ said that between 2015 and 2022, the group acted on behalf of the Russian government and received support as well as money from Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia (AGMR) president and founder Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov.

"Acting under Ionov’s direction, the defendants took several actions within the United States. For example, in August 2015, Ionov requested that Yeshitela, Hess and Nevel draft and publish a petition to the United Nations charging the United States with actively committing genocide against African people," the DOJ wrote.

Hess resisted, and Ionov pushed for the APSP to publish the petition because he and his Russian backers were “not exactly Black to demand it for ourselves." Hess drafted and published the petition, and Ionov promoted it in Russian media.

Ionov in January 2016 provided a $12,000 guarantee letter to fund a four-city tour to promote the genocide petition. The tour was overseen by Yeshitela and Hess, who reported information about the tour to Ionov. Following the tour, Yeshitela said in APSP meeting that APSP had "developed a relationship with forces in Russia who are involved in their own struggle with the US."

The DOJ stated that Ionov attempted to influence local elections in St Petersburg, Florida in 2017 and 2019 on behalf of the Moscow-based Federal Security Service, though "there is no evidence that he succeeded in doing so," the DOJ noted.

In 2017, Ionov reached out to Nevel who was then running for mayor to offer support including "campaign finance." In 2019, Ionov "regularly" reported to the FSB about a local office election in the city, referring to one candidate as one "whom we supervise."

Ionov invited Nevel and Yeshitela to speak at a conference in April 2020 "to promote the right of self-determination for Russian-backed secessionist movements in eastern Ukraine," the DOJ wrote. Shortly after, Yeshitela recorded a video statement in support of the secessionist group.

Following the start of the war in Ukraine, Ionov directed Yeshitela and Romain to protest at a social media company’s California headquarters against the suppression of pro-Russia viewpoints in late February 2022. Ionov paid for Romain and three members of the Black Hammer to fly to California, and Yeshitela directed members of the APSP located in California to conduct a similar protest a few days later.

Romain messaged Ionov after the Black Hammer protest, "This is great! That was fun! Who we attacking next? With more time I can get a bigger crowd."

At Ionov’s direction, another protest was staged in May 2022 at a media company in Atlanta to celebrate Russia’s "Victory Day." Another protest in support of Russia was staged by Romain at Ionov’s direction in June 2022. During that protest, Romain stated that he was “not ashamed to say that the Black Hammer Party has relationships with the Kremlin."

Ionov and two alleged FSB agents, Aleksey Borisovich Sukhodolov and Yegor Sergeyevich Popov, have also been indicted in the arrest but not arrested.