DOJ Says 2 Russians Funded Big-Name Online Conservative Media Personalities

The Department of Justice indicted two employees of the state-backed Russian media company RT on Wednesday, saying they funded and directed the coverage of a U.S. conservative media outlet in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

The indictment alleges that two Russians, Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, funneled nearly $10 million into the U.S. media company as part of a Kremlin-backed effort to influence American audiences in favor of Russian government priorities, and says they failed to register as agents of a foreign government as required by law.

The conservative network is not named in the indictment. However, it is identified as a Tennessee-based corporation hosting six commentators that describes itself as a “network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues.”

That matches the exact language and number of commentators listed on the website of the Tennessee-based TENET Media, a video distribution platform owned by conservative founders Liam Donovan and Lauren Chen that hosts conservative influencers including Dave Rubin, Tim Pool, Benny Johnson and Lauren Southern. Chen did not immediately respond to an email, and HuffPost was unable to reach Donovan.

However, CNN has independently confirmed that the company mentioned in the indictment is TENET.

In a post on X on Wednesday that was retweeted by Rubin, Johnson acknowledged that he was an unwitting victim of the alleged scheme.

“A year ago, a media startup pitched my company to provide content as an independent contractor,” Johnson wrote. “Our lawyers negotiated a standard, arms length deal, which was later terminated. We are disturbed by the allegations in today’s indictment, which make clear that myself