A federal indictment has revealed how two employees of the Russian media company RT, known as Russia Today, undertook a conspiracy to launder money and violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The indictment alleges that they used nearly $10 million laundered through shell companies to create and distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging. Key to this operation were fake personas used to appear legitimate to unwitting on-air personalities. The Russian operation, dubbed “U.S. Company-1,” is widely believed to be the now-shuttered right-wing startup Tenet Media. The main character in the Russians’ narrative was “Eduard Grigoriann,” a fictitious globe-trotting businessman and banker, who had no digital footprint and was represented by various fake personas.
Tenet’s founders, Lauren Chen and her husband, were referred to as “Founder-1” and “Founder-2” in the indictment. The indictment suggests that the pair knew that “Eduard Grigoriann” was a fake and were aware that their “investors” were actually Russian. Chen solicited right-wing media personalities such as Dave Rubin and Tim Pool to work on behalf of Grigoriann. Rubin and Pool were allegedly introduced to Grigoriann through emails and calls. Chen reassured the personalities that they would have time to get to know each other better before finalizing contracts and working together. The personalities requested more information about Grigoriann, but the fake persona’s lack of a digital footprint raised suspicions.
Despite a lack of information on Grigoriann, Rubin and Pool agreed to work with Tenet. Rubin agreed to host videos in exchange for a large monthly fee, signing bonus, and performance incentives. He produced approximately 130 videos for Tenet’s platform. Pool, on the other hand, agreed to a contract where he would receive $100,000 per video. Four other commentators, Lauren Southern, Tayler Hansen, Matt Christiansen, and Benny Johnson, were mentioned in the indictment but were not named. The commentators have distanced themselves from the alleged crimes and stated that they were victims of the scheme.
The indictment highlighted red flags during interactions with Grigoriann, such as scheduling discrepancies and the use of the term “social justice” in the fake persona’s CV, which did not align with the conservative network Tenet aimed to create. Despite these discrepancies, Rubin and Pool proceeded to work with Grigoriann. Grigoriann’s lack of a digital footprint raised suspicions, yet the commentators did not seem bothered by working with a seemingly mysterious individual. Rubin and Pool were apparently unfazed by the fake persona’s CV and continued to produce content for Tenet’s platform.
The indictment did not identify the individual behind the various fake personas representing Grigoriann. The fake personas were used to create an illusion of legitimacy and to deceive high-profile right-wing media personalities into joining the alleged Russian influence operation. Despite the lack of background information on Grigoriann and the red flags raised during interactions, Rubin and Pool proceeded to work with Tenet. The other commentators involved similarly distanced themselves from the alleged crimes and maintained that they were deceived by the scheme. The unfolding of this operation sheds light on how high-profile personalities may be fooled into participating in influence campaigns orchestrated by foreign entities.
