According to the US, Russia financed a media company that paid right-wing influencers millions for videos

Washington – Two Russian citizens working for a news network controlled by Vladimir Putin’s government funneled millions of dollars to an American media company that paid right-wing influencers for videos spreading pro-Kremlin narratives, U.S. prosecutors alleged Wednesday.

An indictment unsealed in the Southern District of New York charged Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, both residents of Moscow, with conspiracy to launder money and conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The charges came as the Justice Department revealed far-reaching allegations and accused the Russian government of interfering in the 2024 US elections.

The two defendants worked for RT, a media company formerly known as Russia Today that is funded and controlled by the Russian government, the indictment says.

According to federal prosecutors, RT was responsible for a series of “covert projects,” including funneling $10 million through a series of shell companies to a Tennessee-based company founded in 2023 that posts videos on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and X (formerly known as Twitter).

“Many of the videos released by U.S. Company 1 contain commentary on events and issues in the United States, such as immigration, inflation, and other domestic and foreign policy issues,” the indictment states. “Although the views expressed in the videos are not consistent, the themes and content of the videos are often consistent with the Russian government’s interest in reinforcing domestic political divisions in the United States in order to weaken U.S. opposition to core Russian government interests, such as the ongoing war in Ukraine.”

Although the company is not named in the indictment, prosecutors said it describes itself as a “network of heterodox commentators focused on Western political and cultural issues” and lists six commentators as its “talents.” Tenet Media describes itself using the same wording on its website, and other details in the indictment are consistent with the company. Its website lists six right-wing figures, including Dave Rubin, who has more than 2.4 million YouTube subscribers; Tim Pool, a podcast host with more than 1.3 million YouTube followers; and Benny Johnson, whose YouTube channel has nearly 2.4 million subscribers.

In response to the charges against the two Russians, Pool wrote on social media: “If these allegations prove to be true, I and the other personalities and commentators have been deceived and are victims. I cannot speak for anyone else at the company as to what they do or what they are instructed to do.” He said his podcast was licensed by Tenet Media and existed before the licensing agreement. Pool also said he had full editorial control over the show and its content, which he said was “often apolitical.”

Johnson said in a separate statement shared on social media that his company was offered a job as an independent contractor by a media startup a year ago to provide content. He said his lawyers negotiated a “standard, remote contract” that was later terminated.

“We are disturbed by the allegations in today’s indictment, which make clear that I and other influencers were victims of this alleged scheme. My lawyers will deal with anyone who claims or suggests otherwise,” Johnson wrote.

Tennessee Secretary of State records show that Tenet Media was founded on January 19, 2022, the same founding date cited in the indictment, and is headquartered in Nashville. The company was founded by Liam Donovan and his wife, Lauren Chen. The founders are referred to in the indictment as Founder 1 and Founder 2, and prosecutors said they co-manage the company.

The allegations

The indictment says Tenet never disclosed to its audience that it was “funded and directed” by RT, and neither the company nor its founders are registered with the Justice Department as agents of a foreign principal. CBS News has not received a response from Tenet to a request for comment.

It alleges that the two RT employees and the two Tenet founders “deceived” two US internet commentators – one with more than 2.4 million YouTube subscribers and the other with more than 1.3 million subscribers – and hired them to produce videos for the company, concealing RT’s funding source. Pool appears to be one of the commentators, although it is unclear whether the second is Johnson or Rubin.

The founders claimed that Tenet was sponsored by a private investor named “Eduard Grigoriann,” a fictitious person, and created a fictitious profile of him.

According to prosecutors, around February 2023, one of Tenet’s founders began recruiting two commentators to work on behalf of “Grigoriann.” One of the personalities, described as “Commentator-1,” said he needed $5 million annually “to be interested” in creating videos for the false persona Grigoriann. The other, identified as “Commentator-2,” needed $100,000 per weekly episode “to make it worthwhile for him,” according to the indictment.

The two commentators eventually signed contracts, prosecutors said. Commentator 1’s contract required him to host four weekly videos and stream them live from Tenet Media. He received $400,000 a month and a $100,000 bonus. Commentator 2 agreed to provide weekly videos for $100,000 each, the indictment says.

After the company’s launch in fall 2023, Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva were involved in the company’s day-to-day operations. Kalashnikov was introduced to employees as an external editor and, according to the indictment, “monitored US Company-1’s internal communications and edited content published by US Company-1 without disclosing that he was an RT employee.”

In one case, the Justice Department alleges that Afanasyeva asked one of Tenet’s founders to support Ukraine and the United States in Terrorist attack in March at a music venue in Moscow and claimed that terrorists had been detained on their way to the Ukrainian border, which she said “makes it even more suspicious why they want to hide in Ukraine.”

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, and a US official told CBS News at the time that the US had intelligence confirming the Islamic State’s claim to the attack.

Afanasyeva was frustrated because paid commenters weren’t sharing enough Tenet videos or promoting the company, the indictment says. She created fake identities that joined the company’s Discord server and pressured creators to share at least one of the company’s videos per day, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Tenet’s founders “admitted in their private communications with each other that their ‘investors’ were in fact and truth the ‘Russians.'” At one point, Founder-1 searched Google for “time in Moscow” while waiting for a response to a message.

The Justice Department said that between October 2023 and August 2024, RT transferred a total of more than $9.7 million, equivalent to nearly 90% of its bank deposits, to Tenet from shell companies abroad. “US Company 1 paid the majority of these funds to its contracted commentators, including approximately $8.7 million to the production companies of Commentator 1, Commentator 2, and Commentator 3 alone,” the indictment said.

Tenet Media and RT did not immediately respond to CBS News’ request for comment on the indictment on Wednesday. CBS News also reached out to the Russian embassy in Washington and received no response.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department “will not tolerate attempts by an authoritarian regime to exploit the free exchange of ideas in our country to secretly advance its own propaganda efforts, and our investigation into this matter is ongoing.”

Robert Legare, Julia Kimani Burnham and Nicole Sganga contributed reporting.