The Department of Justice announced charges on Wednesday against two Russian state media employees for funneling $10 million to an unidentified media company in the United States.
The criminal case names two defendants, Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, both charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Their scheme was allegedly valued around $10 million. The defendants are at large.
Though the case does not name the company to which Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva allegedly directed money, it is described as a “Tennessee-based online content creation company” which publishes English-language videos and information on TikTok, YouTube, X (formerly Twitter) and other social media which favor and furtherance of Russian interests. The case notes that the company — given the name “Company-1” — was publicly launched in November 2023, and “has posted nearly 2,000 videos that have garnered more than 16 million views on YouTube alone.”
The description matches that of Tennessee-based company Tenet Media, which funds videos made by conservative influencers such as Dave Rubin, Tim Pool and Benny Johnson. In recent months, the company’s shows have featured RNC co-chair Lara Trump, former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake.
Both Pool and Johnson responded to the DOJ’s allegations on X, calling themselves “victims.” Pool referred to Russian president Putin as a “scumbag.”
Johnson wrote in his post he was asked to provide content to a “media startup” about a year ago. “Our lawyers negotiated a standard, arms length deal, which was later terminated,” he wrote.
In another section of the DOJ announcement, the government seized 32 internet domains used by the Kremlin to weaken global support for Ukraine. The websites were allegedly designed to look like authentic news sites, but instead published only Russian propaganda.
“Covert attempts to sow division and trick Americans into unwittingly consuming foreign propaganda represents attacks on our democracy,” said FBI director Christopher A. Wray. “Today’s actions show that as long as foreign adversaries like Russia keep engaging in hostile influence campaigns, they are going to keep running into the FBI. We will continue to do everything we can to expose the hidden hand of foreign adversaries like Russia and disrupt their efforts to meddle in our free and open society.”
