Right-wing influencers say they have fallen victim to an alleged Russian influence operation. They are keeping their millions – for now

CNN
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Where did the money go?

The right-wing social media stars who were allegedly paid millions of dollars as part of a nefarious Russian influence operation to sway public opinion surrounding the 2024 U.S. presidential election remain silent.

Last week, the Justice Department alleged that Russian state media producers funneled nearly $10 million to an unnamed Tennessee-based company that CNN said was Tenet Media. The company was tasked with creating and distributing content that often contained Kremlin-backed narratives and themes. Tenet Media has a roster of high-profile right-wing, pro-Trump commentators, including Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, Benny Johnson and several others.

While the indictment does not directly name the influencers, accuse them of wrongdoing, or claim that they knew at the time that the money was part of a Russian influence operation, it alleges that two employees of RT, the Russian state-run propaganda channel, paid nearly $10 million to hire the “talent” and create social media videos promoting their agenda. All of the individuals have said they did not know the funds came from the Kremlin and had no idea they were being used to amplify pro-Russian narratives. The influencers all say they are “victims” and that the FBI contacted them for voluntary interviews.

Following this shocking allegation, CNN asked representatives for Pool, Rubin and Johnson whether they would hand over or donate the money they were paid. None of them have publicly detailed the payments they allegedly received as part of the foreign campaign or responded to CNN's inquiries about the matter.

Based on the information that has come to light in the case so far, the influencers are not obligated to hand over the money, said Brandon Van Grack, one of the lead prosecutors in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election interference in 2016.

In an interview after the indictment, Pool insisted that the amount he received – $100,000 per video – was “roughly in line with market value for offers we had already received” and called it “irrelevant” to his lifestyle.

“We never actually did anything with it,” he told conservative host Ben Shapiro. “I would say the vast majority of the money just didn't go anywhere.”

While Pool noted that he had been asked by social media users to return the money, he also said that he is currently discussing the case with his legal team.

But the secret payments show how vulnerable the new media ecosystem is to infiltration, where independent creators operate with little security and little transparency. And while the figures hired by Tenet regularly attack traditional news media, the payments reveal the lack of accountability and integrity these individuals deserve from traditional journalistic outlets.

According to the indictment, some of the creators were told that the project was being financed by a man named Eduard Grigoriann. “In reality,” the indictment states, “Grigoriann was a fictitious person.”

In a court document, federal prosecutors described how one of the social media stars, believed to be Rubin, was approached by a Tenet co-founder with an offer of $2 million a year to make videos for the company. One of the founders later wrote, “It would have to be closer to $5 million a year for him to be interested,” the indictment said.

Rubin expressed some skepticism about who was funding the deal and asked for more information about Grigoriann. The Tenet co-founder then wrote to Russian state media staff, stressing that the personality “really insists on seeing some materials (profile, article, whatever) about Eduard before (he) feels comfortable moving forward. Is there anything we (Rubin) can provide?”

Rubin was then presented with a fake resume that portrayed Grigoriann as a wealthy, Brussels-born “successful financial expert.” The host objected to Grigoriann describing himself as a “social justice” advocate, but eventually agreed to a contract that included a $400,000 monthly fee to produce “four weekly videos” and a $100,000 signing bonus, the indictment says.

While Rubin apparently did not know where the funds came from, the Justice Department said Tenet's founders, right-wing personality Lauren Chen and her husband Liam Donovan, knew Grigoriann was an imposter. Neither Chen nor Donovan are named in the indictment.

A private message between Chen and Donovan in May 2021 said, “So we're billing the Russians from the corporation, right?” Two weeks later, another message said, “Also, the Russians paid. So I guess we can bill them for next month,” according to legal documents.

Two Russian state media employees, Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, were charged by the Justice Department with money laundering and violating the law on registering foreign agents. No charges have been filed against Chen and Donovan. CNN was unable to reach the couple.

Rubin later said he was a victim of this elaborate scheme, posting on social media: “These allegations clearly demonstrate that I and other commenters were victims of this scheme. I knew absolutely nothing about this fraudulent activity. Period.”

The Justice Department's investigation into the covert Russian influence operation – and into Tenet Media's founders themselves – may still be ongoing, Van Grack told CNN, but he suggested that prosecutors released the indictment this month to mitigate the influence of Russian propaganda on the November election.

The U.S. government was “caught flat-footed” in many ways by Russia's covert influence campaign in 2016, and the U.S. government is determined not to repeat the same mistake this year, he said.

CNN's Hadas Gold contributed reporting.