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Prominent Conservative Influencers Mistakenly Implicated in Justice Department’s Russian Influence Charge

Posted on by angelo
Prominent Conservative Influencers Mistakenly Implicated in Justice Department’s Russian Influence Charge

Several popular American conservative influencers unwittingly participated in a malicious Russian influence operation, according to a Biden-Harris Justice Department indictment.

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

“The Department of Justice has charged two employees of RT, a Russian state-controlled media outlet, in connection with a $10 million scheme to create and distribute content to the American public that contained hidden messages from the Russian government,” 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 agents.

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 disguise the true source of funding for U.S. Company 1 (Tenet Media) – i.e. RT – by misleading 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 fictitious character.”

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

It was only after receiving the fictional profile that Commenter-I unwittingly agreed to produce content for Tenet Media.

So far, only Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva have been charged, although many suspect that Donovan and Chen are also being prosecuted. Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva carried out their plan using false identities.

“Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva operated under covert identities within US Company-1,” the indictment states. “Posting as an outside editor, Kalashnikov edited US Company-1 content, oversaw US Company-1’s funding and staffing, and presented Afanasyeva as a member of his purported editorial team.”

“Under the pseudonyms Helena Shudra and Victoria Pesti, Afanasyeva published and directed the publication by the American company US Company-1 of hundreds of videos. Afanasyeva also collected information and gave instructions to the personnel of the American company US Company-1,” the indictment continues.

For example, after the Islamic terrorist attack on a concert hall in Moscow last March, Afanasyeva asked Donovan or Chen – it is unclear which – to blame Ukraine and the United States for the attack.

“I think we can focus on the Ukraine/US angle. . . . (T)he mainstream media has been spreading fake news that ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack, but ISIS itself has never made such a statement,” they wrote.

“All the terrorists are now being arrested on their way to the border with Ukraine, which makes their desire to go to Ukraine to hide even more suspicious,” they added.

Almost all the influencers involved in the two Russians’ scheme have posted statements on Twitter/X claiming to be victims:

Meanwhile, Donovan and Chen’s Twitter/X feeds remain silent, with neither having posted in at least a few days, if not longer.

Some critics say the indictment is just another version of the Russian collusion and conspiracy theory. They base this theory on the fact that Pool, one of the influencers, filed a lawsuit against Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign a day before the indictment was announced.

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Vivek Saxena
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