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Huge conservative influencers accidently caught up in DOJ’s Russian influence indictment

September 5, 2024 | | Print Article

Several popular American conservative influencers unwittingly participated in a malign Russian influence operation, according to an indictment by the Biden-Harris Department of Justice.

Announced Tuesday, the indictment accuses two RT employees, Konstantin Kalashnikov and Elena of Afanasyeva, of funneling $10 million to the Tennessee-based company Tenet Media.

“The Justice Department has charged two employees of RT, a Russian state-controlled media outlet, in a $10 million scheme to create and distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement.

Tenet Media is owned by Liam Donovan, the husband of conservative influencer Lauren Chen. Both have been accused of knowingly accepting the $10 million from the two Russian operatives.

The other influencers involved — Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, Benny Johnson, Lauren Southern, Tayler Hansen, and Matt Christiansen — produced content for Tenet Media but were unaware of the Russian connection.

“Founder-1 [Donovan], and Founder-2 [Chen] worked together to mask U.S. Company-1’s [Tenet Media] true source of funding — i.e., RT — by falsely portraying to [the other influencers] that U.S. Company-1 was sponsored by a private investor named ‘Eduard Grigoriann,'” the indictment reads. “In truth and in fact, Grigoriann was a fictional persona.”

“For example, during contract negotiations, Commentator-I requested that Founder-1 provide a profile or article on ‘Eduard Grigoriann.’ In response, Founder-1 sent Commentator-I a one-page profile, provided to Founder-I by another fictional persona purporting to represent
‘Eduard Grigoriann,’ falsely describing ‘Eduard Grigoriann’ as an ‘accomplished finance professional’ who had held various positions in Brussels and France at a multinational bank,” the indictment continues.

Only after receiving the fictitious profile did Commentator-I unwittingly agree to produce content for Tenet Media.

Thus far only Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva have been charged, though many suspect Donovan and Chen may face charges as well. Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva carried out their scheme by using fake identities.

“Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva operated under covert identities at U.S. Company-1,” the indictment notes. “Posing as an outside editor, Kalashnikov edited U.S. Company-1 content, monitored U.S. Company-1’s funding and hiring, and introduced Afanasyeva as a member of his purported editing team.”

“Using the fake personas Helena Shudra and Victoria Pesti, Afanasyeva posted and directed the posting by U.S. Company-1 of hundreds of videos. Afanasyeva also collected information from and gave instructions to U.S. Company-1 staff,” the indictment continues.

For instance, after the Islamic terror attack on a concert hall in Moscow back in March, Afanasyeva asked either Donovan or Chen — it’s not clear which one — to blame Ukraine and the United States for the attack.

“I think we can focus on the Ukraine/U.S. angle. . . . [T]he mainstream media spread fake news that ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack yet ISIS itself never made such statements,” they wrote.

“All terrorists are now detained while they were heading to the border with Ukraine which makes it even more suspicious why they would want to go to Ukraine to hide,” they added.

Nearly all of the influencers caught up in the two Russians’ scheme have issued statements on Twitter/X proclaiming themselves as victims:

Donovan and Chen’s Twitter/X feeds meanwhile remain quiet, with neither having posted in at least days, if not longer.

Some critics allege that the indictment is just another rehash of the Russian collusion delusion hoax and conspiracy theory. They base this theory on the fact that Pool, one of the influencers, sued Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign a day before the indictment was announced.

Vivek Saxena
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