Right-wing figureheads claim to have been deceived in a suspected Russian manipulation endeavor. Currently, they choose to preserve their substantial wealth.
The right-wing social media personalities, who were apparently paid substantial sums by a questionable Russian influence operation aimed at manipulating public opinion prior to the 2024 U.S. presidential election, continue to remain silent.
Recently, the Department of Justice alleged that Russian media producers channeled close to $10 million to an unnamed Tennessee-based company, subsequently identified by CNN as Tenet Media, to produce and disseminate content that frequently encompassed narratives and themes aligned with the Kremlin. Tenet Media boasts a roster of well-known right-wing, pro-Trump commentators such as Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, Benny Johnson, among others.
Although the indictment does not directly implicate or accuse the influencers of misconduct or indicate that they were cognizant of the Russian influence campaign when the funds were involved, it suggests that two RT employees, the Russian state media’s propaganda outlet, paid nearly $10 million to recruit and produce social media content promoting their agenda, featuring the influencers. All the influencers claim they were oblivious to the source of the funds and had no awareness of being employed to promote pro-Russian narratives. They all present themselves as "victims," and they have asserted that the FBI has approached them for voluntary interviews.
After the shocking allegations surfaced, CNN reached out to Pool, Rubin, and Johnson to request clarifications on any payments they allegedly received. None of them have publicly declared the amount or circumstances surrounding the alleged foreign payments, or responded to CNN's requests related to the matter.
Given the available information, the influencers are not obligated to return the funds, reported Brandon Van Grack, a principal prosecutor in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s 2016 election influence.
After the indictment was announced, Pool asserted that the amount he received–$100,000 per video–was roughly equivalent to the market value of offers they had previously received and viewed as "insignificant" to his lifestyle.
“We didn’t utilize the money anyway,” he informed conservative host Ben Shapiro. “I would say practically all of the money never got used.”
Despite pressure from social media users to return the funds, Pool mentioned that he is consulting with his legal team regarding the matter.
However, the confidential payments reveal how susceptible the modern media landscape, characterized by independent creators functioning with minimal constraints and reduced transparency, is to infiltration. While the figures hired by Tenet consistently criticize traditional news media, the payments underscore their lack of accountability and ethical standards typically found in traditional journalistic outlets.
As per the allegations, certain creators were led to believe that the project was being financed by a fictional character named Eduard Grigoriann.
Federal prosecutors provided details of how social media celebrities, believed to be Rubin, were offered a yearly salary of $2 million to produce videos for the firm. However, one of the founders later suggested they would need to increase the offer to $5 million annually for Rubin's participation, according to the indictment.
Rubin showed some reservations about who was behind the funding and requested more information about Grigoriann. In response, the Tenet co-founder contacted Russian state media staff and requested materials to reassure Rubin about Grigoriann. Rubin was then provided with a falsified resume delivering Grigoriann as a Brussels-born "accomplished finance professional" advocating for "social justice." Despite his concerns, Rubin agreed to a monthly fee of $400,000 to produce four weekly videos and receive a $100,000 signing bonus, the indictment stated.
Although Rubin claimed to be unaware of the origins of the money, the Justice Department revealed that Tenet's founders, right-wing personality Lauren Chen and her husband, Liam Donovan, were aware that Grigoriann was fictitious. Neither Chen nor Donovan are named in the indictment.
A confidential message between Chen and Donovan in May 2021 read, "So we’re invoicing the Russians through the corporation, right?" Two weeks later, another message stated, "Also, the Russians paid. So we're good to invoice them for the next month, I guess," as detailed in the legal filing.
Two Russian state media employees, Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, were charged by the Justice Department with money laundering and violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Chen and Donovan have not been charged. CNN has yet to contact the couple.
Later, Rubin proclaimed himself a victim of the elaborate scheme on social media, stating, "These allegations make it clear that I and other commentators were the victims of this scheme. I had no clue about any deceitful activities whatsoever."
The Department of Justice's investigation into the Russian covert influence operation and Tenet Media's founders might continue, according to Van Grack, who spoke to CNN. Van Grack suggested that the indictment was unsealed this month to reduce the impact of Russian propaganda on the November election.
The U.S. government was, in essence, "taken aback" by the covert Russian influence campaign in 2016, and U.S. officials are determined not to repeat the blunder this year, Van Grack added.
CNN’s Hadas Gold contributed reporting.
In light of the allegations, Dave Rubin expressed that the funding he received, estimated at $2 million annually, was viewed as insignificant and was primarily used for video production. (This sentence contains the words 'funding' and 'business')
The Department of Justice has implicated Tenet Media, a Tennessee-based company known for hosting right-wing commentators, in channelling money from Russian media producers for promoting pro-Russian narratives. (This sentence contains the words 'company' and 'media')
