Conservative influencers ‘duped’ into working for Russia as media company indicted for sprawling $10 million ‘covert project’

Conservative influencers were allegedly “tricked” into working with Russian investors while raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars for their videos as part of a massive $10 million “secret project” by Kremlin-backed RT, federal officials said Wednesday.

In the shocking indictment unsealed in the Southern District of New York, RT employees Konstantin Kalashnikov and Elena Van Afanasyeva are accused of carrying out a scheme to pay nearly $10 million to a Tennessee company to produce videos “aligned” with the “Kremlin’s interests in deepening domestic divisions in the United States.”

While the lawsuit does not name the Tennessee media company, its details match Tenet Media, which employs well-known conservative figures such as Tim Pool, Dave Rubin and Benny Johnson.

The chairman, Liam Donovan, is the husband of Lauren Chen, a Canadian influencer listed as a contributor to several opinion pieces for RT in 2021 and 2022.

But conservative media darlings were unaware of the plan and at least two of them were given incorrect information about the source of the company’s financing.

The company never disclosed this to the influencers or their millions of followers [its] “There are ties to RT and the Russian government,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said when he announced charges against the RT employees of conspiracy to commit money laundering and violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

“Instead, defendants and the company alleged that the company was sponsored by a private investor, but that the private investor was a fictitious person,” Garland said.

They were told that the company was sponsored by a private investor named “Eduard Grigoriann,” who the suspects described as an “experienced financial professional” who held positions at a multinational bank in both Brussels and France. according to NBC News.

In their own online communications, however, the company’s founders are said to have referred to their financiers as “the Russians.”

Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva remain at large and it is not immediately clear whether they have lawyers who can speak on their behalf.

DailyMail.com has reached out to Tenet Media and RT for comment, but in response to a request for comment from NBC News, an RT spokesperson wrote, “Hahahaha!” and “We have to earn our Kremlin salary somehow.”

The indictment alleges that the conservative voices raked in large sums of money from the Russian duo.

It was said that as much as $8.7 million was sent ‘to the production companies of Commentator-1, Commentator-2 and Commentator-3 alone.’

Commentator 1 is now believed to be Dave Rubin, while Commentator 2 is likely Tim Pool. It is unclear from the indictment’s description who Commentator 3 might be.

An exchange cited in the complaint also alleges that Commentator-1 said the contract would have to be “more like $5 million a year to make him interested,” while Commentator-2 said it would take “$100,000 per weekly episode to make it worth his while.”

One of Tenet’s founders reportedly said it would be “very difficult” for the company to recoup the $100,000 fee based on ad revenue from web traffic or sponsors alone. Still, they decided to go ahead with the deal, NBC reports.

Another unnamed influencer reportedly took home a $400,000 monthly compensation, a $100,000 signing bonus, and an additional performance bonus.

Ultimately, the Russians’ payments would account for 90 percent of the deposits into the company’s accounts.

As the money poured in, the Russian financiers alleged in the complaint that they pressured Tenet’s American commentators to share the Russian-funded content with their larger audiences.

They even openly expressed concern that certain of the company’s talent posted so few “raw videos,” the lawsuit alleges.

Still, Tenet became a platform for fervent pro-Trump voices, with many commentators interviewing the former president and his family while railing against U.S. funding of Ukraine and downplaying the events of January 6, 2021.

Pool, who hosted Trump on his podcast earlier this year, posted on X last month that “Ukraine is our enemy,” in response to allegations that a Ukrainian man was involved in the 2022 underwater explorations that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipeline between Russia and Germany.

Rubin, a self-described libertarian who previously appeared on the liberal newscast The Young Turks, is also an outspoken critic of Ukraine, saying it “can’t win” the war against Russia.

But conservative influencers have since maintained they knew nothing about Tenet’s ties to Russia, even as the top six conservative voices have amassed more than 7 million subscribers on YouTube and more than 7 million followers on X.

“These allegations come as a complete shock to me and the other Tent Media presenters,” said Taylor Hansen wrote in a long statement on X.

‘I want to be as clear as possible. I was never assigned to report on a specific topic and had complete freedom and control over my reporting at all times.

“I would never agree to any arrangement where I am not solely responsible for the stories I write about and the content I create.

‘At Tenet, I’ve had complete freedom to report on whatever I want, unlike any other media company I’ve ever worked for, and certainly more than the left-wing and [mainstream media] Media outlets that are given orders to report certain stories and are punished if they don’t.’

Ruby also argued that the indictment ‘clearly shows’ that I and other commentators were victims of this scheme.

“I knew absolutely nothing about these fraudulent activities. Period,” he said.

Likewise, Tim Pool, wrote: ‘If these allegations turn out to be true, then I, as well as the other personalities and commentators, have been deceived and we are the victims.’

He noted that his Culture War podcast was licensed by Tenet Media, but had existed before that.

‘No one but me has ever had full editorial control over the show, and the show’s content is often apolitical, including discussions of spirituality, dating, and video games.

“But we still don’t know what’s true because these are just allegations,” Pool continued.

He concluded by saying: “Putin is a scoundrel” and “Russia is a jerk.”

Benny Johnson, meanwhile, said Tenet ‘promoted my business to provide content as an independent entrepreneur.

“Our lawyers negotiated a standard deal, on an arm’s length basis, which was later terminated,” he said.

“We are troubled by the allegations in today’s complaint, which clearly show that I and other influencers were victims of this alleged scheme,” he wrote.

And Matt Christiansen said‘No one ever told me what to say or not to say, and I would never agree to anything different.

“My videos and streams for Tenet are exactly the same as my videos and streams on my personal channels,” he noted. “Every word is mine and mine alone.”