DOJ alleges Russia funded US media company linked to right-wing social media stars

By Zachary Cohen, Donie O’Sullivan, Evan Perez, Sean Lyngaas and Majlie de Puy Kamp, CNN

(CNN) — The unnamed Tennessee-based company that the Justice Department alleges was being funded by Russian operatives working as part of a Kremlin-orchestrated influence operation targeting the 2024 US election is Tenet Media, which is linked to right-wing commentators with millions of subscribers on YouTube and other social media platforms, according to a US official briefed on the matter.

The indictment unsealed in New York’s Southern District accused two employees of RT, the Kremlin’s media arm, of funneling nearly $10 million to an unidentified company, described only as “Company 1” in court documents.

CNN has independently confirmed that “Company 1” is Tenet Media, which is a platform for independent content creators. It is self-described as a “network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues,” according to its website, which matches language contained in the newly unsealed indictment.

The alleged Russian operation tapped two people to set up the company in their names to add to its legitimacy and the two founders were aware Russian money backed the operation, according to the indictment.

The goal of the operation, according to prosecutors, was to fuel pro-Russian narratives, in part, by pushing content and news articles favoring Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and others who the Kremlin deemed to be friendlier to its interests.

Among the commentators listed on Tenet Media’s website are right-wing personalities Benny Johnson, Tim Pool and Dave Rubin. All have released statements saying they were victims of the alleged Russian scheme and they maintained editorial control of the content they created.

Each has a loyal fanbase online, with a combined roughly 6 million followers on YouTube alone. Pool interviewed Trump on his podcast in May.

Wednesday’s indictment outlined how the American social media stars were hired by Tenet Media. Some of the creators were told the project was being bankrolled by a man named Eduard Grigoriann. “In truth and fact,” the indictment reads, “Grigoriann was a fictional persona.”

The indictment outlines how one of the social media stars was approached by Tenet Media’s founder with an offer of $2 million a year to make videos for the company. One of the founders later wrote, “It would need to be closer to 5 million yearly for him to be interested,” according to the indictment.

The social media star expressed some skepticism about who was funding the deal and asked for more information about Grigoriann.

Eventually the social media star agreed on a contract of a $400,000 monthly fee to create “four weekly videos,” along with a $100,000 signing bonus.

Tenet Media’s US-based founders are not named in the indictment, but business records filed in Tennessee reveal two people connected to the company: Lauren Chen and Liam Donovan. A Twitter account for Donovan identifies him as the president of Tenet Media and his Instagram account describes Donovan as Chen’s husband.

A private message between the two in May 2021 read, “So we’re billing the Russians from the corporation, right?” Two weeks later, another message said, “Also, the Russians paid. So we’re good to bill them for the next month I guess,” the legal filing details.

Chen, is a rightwing online influencer in her own right. She has appeared in some of Tenet Media’s videos and has more than 500,000 subscribers on YouTube.

The Russian state-controlled media RT lists Chen as a contributor for several articles in 2021 and 2022. She is also linked to the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA. As of Thursday afternoon Turning Point US had deleted webpages featuring Chen.

A YouTube video referenced in the indictment further describes Tenet Media as “a project of Lauren Chen and her husband Liam.”

Blaze Media on Thursday said it had fired Chen.

BlazeTV, a subset of the Glenn Beck-founded conservative outlet, has since taken down a page that previously promoted content Chen produced for the outlet, including her show “Pseudo-Intellectual.”

“Lauren Chen was an independent contractor, whose contract has been terminated,” Tyler Cardon, the chief executive of Blaze Media, said in a statement to CNN. The news was first reported by Semafor.

YouTube has removed Tenet Media’s channel and others associated with Chen, a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement Thursday.

“Following an indictment from the US Department of Justice and after careful review, we are terminating the Tenet Media channel and four channels operated by its owner Lauren Chen as part of our ongoing efforts to combat coordinated influence operations,” the statement said.

The company’s investigation into the matter is ongoing, according to YouTube.

Neither Chen nor Donovan responded to CNN’s request for comment.

Others ensnared in the alleged Russian plot, however, insist they are the victims.

“We are disturbed by the allegations in today’s indictment, which make clear that myself and other influencers were victims in this alleged scheme,” Johnson wrote in a post on X after the indictment was unsealed on Wednesday.

“Should these allegations prove true, I as well as the other personalities and commentators were deceived and are victims,” Pool said on X. “The show is produced in its entirety by our local team without input from anyone external to the company,” he added.

In a statement also posted to X, Rubin wrote, “These allegations clearly show that I and other commentators were the victims of this scheme. I knew absolutely nothing about any of this fraudulent activity. Period.”

Adding, “The DoJ has never contacted me regarding this matter and I have no intention to comment further.”

The DOJ’s revealing of the alleged Russian plot was part of a wider set of actions the Biden administration announced Wednesday it was taking to tackle a major Russian government-backed effort to influence the 2024 US presidential election including sanctions on 10 individuals and entities, and the seizure of 32 internet domains.

At Russian President Vladimir Putin’s direction, three Russian companies used fake profiles to promote false narratives on social media, US Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement. Internal documents produced by one of those Russian companies show one of the goals of the propaganda effort was to boost the candidacy of Trump or whoever emerged as the Republican nominee for president, according to an FBI affidavit.

Taken together with the indictment of the RT employees, the actions represent the Biden administration’s most significant public response yet to alleged Russian influence operations targeting American voters. After the US accused Iran of trying to hack both the Trump and Biden-Harris campaigns last month, Wednesday’s actions are a reminder that US officials continue to see Russia as a prominent foreign influence threat to November’s election, sources familiar with the matter told CNN ahead of the announcements.

CNN’s Liam Reilly contributed to this story.

Correction: An earlier version of this story identified the incorrect social media alias for Lauren Chen.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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