US charges employees of Russia's RT network in scheme to pay conservative influencers $10M
PHOTO CAPTION: Russia Today (RT) logo is seen in this illustration picture taken February 26, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
By Sarah N. Lynch, Andrew Goudsward and Christopher Bing
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. on Wednesday filed money-laundering charges against two employees of Russian state media network RT for what officials said was a scheme to hire an American company to produce online content to influence the 2024 presidential election.
Justice Department officials said the two employees used shell companies and fake personas to pay $10 million to an unnamed Tennessee company to produce online videos aimed at amplifying political divisions in the United States.
The U.S. Treasury and State departments also announced actions targeting RT, including the network's top editor, Margarita Simonovna Simonyan.
U.S. officials said Russia's goal is to exacerbate U.S. political divisions and weaken public support for American aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia.
"We will be relentlessly aggressive in countering and disrupting attempts by Russia and Iran, as well as China or any other foreign malign actor, (to) interfere in our elections and undermine our democracy," U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said.
The FBI separately sought court permission to seize 32 internet domains it said were part of Russia's foreign influence effort.
RT responded with ridicule. "Three things are certain in life: death, taxes and RT's interference in the US elections," the media outlet told Reuters.
RT ceased operating in the United States after major television distributors dropped it following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Russian lawmaker Maria Butina told Reuters that Moscow does not think it matters whether Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Kamala Harris wins the Nov. 5 election.
"The only winner of the U.S. election is the U.S. private military industrial complex," said Butina, who spent 15 months in U.S. prison for acting as an unregistered Russian agent.
The Russian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Moscow has repeatedly said it has not meddled in the upcoming U.S. election.
The criminal indictment charged the two RT employees, Konstantin Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, with conspiracy to violate U.S. money laundering and foreign agent laws. Both are based in Russia and remain at large, U.S. officials said.
'HETERODOX COMMENTATORS'
Authorities said the RT employees worked with two foreign nationals in the United States, who set up a company that recruited prominent conservative commentators to post regular videos on topics like immigration and U.S. politics.
Though the company is not named in the indictment, details provided in court filings match up with Tenet Media, a Nashville-based company that has posted nearly 2,000 videos to YouTube in less than a year.
The indictment's description of a "network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues" matches Tenet's own promotional wording on its website. In addition, Tenet's incorporation date of Feb. 19, 2022, filed with the Tennessee Secretary of State matches the date mentioned in the indictment.
The company did not respond to a request for comment and Justice Department officials declined to confirm that it was the company mentioned in the indictment.
The company paid $8.7 million to the production companies of three of the online stars it recruited, according to the indictment. The company's founders also received more than $760,000.
The commentators, who were not named in the indictment, did not know they were paid by RT, the Justice Department said.
In one instance, the indictment said, Afanasyeva asked the company to produce a video that would blame Ukraine and the United States for a mass shooting at a Moscow music venue, the Justice Department said, even though Islamic State had claimed responsibility.
A company founder responded that one of the commentators is "happy to cover it," according to the indictment.
Benny Johnson, one of the commenters who has worked with Tenet, said in a statement he is disturbed by the indictment and said it "makes clear that myself and other influencers were victims in this alleged scheme."
Tim Pool, another commenter, also said he and the other influencers "were deceived and are victims." He said no one else had editorial control of his broadcasts.
Alphabet, which owns YouTube, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Justice Department has not charged Tenet executives with wrongdoing. However, it alleges that the company failed to disclose that it was funded by RT and its executives never registered with the Justice Department that they were acting as agents of a foreign government.
The Justice Department has previously warned that Russia remains a threat in the election and appears to be favoring Trump over Harris.
U.S. intelligence assessments found that Moscow tried to help Trump in 2016, when he defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton, and in 2020 when he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. Moscow has denied the allegations.
After the charges were announced, Trump posted on social media that the Justice Department was working to defeat him in the election.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Andrew Goudsward; additional reporting by Guy Faulconbridge in Moscow, and Christopher Bing, Katie Paul, Katharine Jackson Doina Chiacu and Daphne Psaledakis in Washington; Editing by Andy Sullivan, Caitlin Webber, Deepa Babington, Jonathan Oatis and Lisa Shumaker)
