Tenet Media and the $10 Million Russian Funding Scheme

The Tenet Media Russian funding scheme refers to a federal case in which the U.S. Department of Justice alleges that two employees of the Russian state broadcaster RT secretly funneled roughly $9.7 million to a Tennessee media company to produce political videos aimed at American audiences before the 2024 election. The indictment, unsealed on September 4, 2024, in the Southern District of New York, charges the two RT employees with conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act and to commit money laundering. Tenet Media’s founders were not charged by name, and the six right-wing commentators the company paid were described by prosecutors as unwitting.¹

What Tenet Media Was

Tenet Media was launched in late 2023 by Canadian influencer Lauren Chen, formerly known online as “Roaming Millennial,” and her husband Liam Donovan. The company was registered in Tennessee as a subsidiary of Chen’s Canadian company, Roaming Millennial Inc. Chen, who had previously worked for The Blaze and Turning Point USA, served as the public face of the operation; Donovan worked mostly behind the scenes. According to the indictment, Chen had been working for RT’s parent company since the spring of 2021.²

The company presented itself as a “network of heterodox commentators” and distributed video content across YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and X. Over roughly one year it produced nearly 2,000 videos that drew more than 16 million views on YouTube alone, focused on immigration, gender, race, and attacks on figures such as Kamala Harris. The lineup also featured appearances by Lara Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Kari Lake.³

The Charges and the Defendants

The indictment, filed as case number 1:24-cr-00519 in the Southern District of New York, names two Russian citizens: Kostiantyn Kalashnikov, 31, identified as the Deputy Chief of RT’s Digital Media Projects Department, and Elena Afanasyeva, 27, an RT producer. Both face one count of conspiracy to violate FARA, carrying up to five years in prison, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, carrying up to 20 years.¹ Both remain at large.⁴

How the Money Moved

Prosecutors say Kalashnikov, Afanasyeva, and other RT employees sent approximately $9.7 million to Tenet Media between October 2023 and August 2024. The funds traveled through a network of foreign shell entities registered in Hungary, the Czech Republic, and the United Kingdom. Wire transfers were often labeled to look like consumer electronics purchases, with descriptions such as “BUYING GOODS-INV.013-IPHONE 15 PRO MAX 512GB.” Those payments made up about 90 percent of Tenet Media’s total bank deposits during that period.⁵

To explain where the money was coming from, the defendants and the Tenet founders invented a fictional private backer named “Eduard Grigoriann,” represented internally by a stock photo of a finance professional. Grigoriann was presented to staff and contractors as the company’s investor.⁶

How RT Directed the Content

Kalashnikov was introduced to Tenet staff as an “outside editor,” a cover for his RT role. In that capacity he monitored internal communications, controlled hiring and budgeting, edited videos, and ran private Discord channels where funding, contracts, and content strategy were discussed. Afanasyeva used at least two aliases, “Helena Shudra” and “Victoria Pesti,” to give day-to-day instructions on which videos to produce and post.⁵

The indictment cites specific examples of this direction. After the March 2024 terrorist attack on a Moscow concert hall, Afanasyeva messaged Chen about pushing “the Ukraine/US angle,” instructing the founders to blame Ukraine and the United States. When one Tenet producer flagged a video of Tucker Carlson shopping in a Russian supermarket as “overt shilling,” Chen and Donovan told the producer to post it anyway. Prosecutors described the output as “often consistent” with the Kremlin’s interest in widening domestic U.S. divisions, particularly over the war in Ukraine.⁶³

The Six Influencers Who Were Paid

Tenet Media contracted six commentators: Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, Benny Johnson, Lauren Southern, Matt Christiansen, and Tayler Hansen. Together they held more than seven million YouTube subscribers and roughly seven million followers on X. The pay was substantial. One influencer’s contract, according to the indictment, included a $400,000 monthly fee, a $100,000 signing bonus, and performance bonuses. Tim Pool separately told interviewers he was paid $100,000 per video.⁷

The Justice Department described the influencers as “unwitting” and said they had been given false information about the source of Tenet’s money. None were charged. Pool, Rubin, and Johnson publicly called themselves victims of the scheme and denied knowing about the Russian funding. Brandon Van Grack, a former lead prosecutor in the Mueller investigation, said that based on the information in the case the influencers were not obligated to return the payments.⁷

Where Chen and Donovan Stand

The indictment does not charge Chen or Donovan by name, but prosecutors quoted Discord chats in which the couple “repeatedly referred to being paid by ‘the Russians,'” and said the founders knew the Grigoriann investor persona was fictional.⁶

On the day the indictment was unsealed, roughly 30 FBI agents raided the couple’s Nashville home, seized their electronic devices, and froze their bank accounts. Chen lost her work visa, was fired by The Blaze, and had her biography removed from the Turning Point USA website. YouTube terminated Tenet Media’s channel and four other channels associated with Chen, citing “coordinated influence operations.”⁶⁸

Chen and Donovan left the United States after the raid. In September 2025, Chen said publicly that the investigation into her company had been closed; the Department of Justice did not comment. In December 2025, Chen announced she had returned to the U.S. with the assistance of the Trump administration, thanking State Department adviser Joe Rittenhouse and “the new leadership at the FBI.” As of April 2026, the DOJ, FBI, and State Department had not publicly confirmed or denied whether the investigation remained open.⁹

What Else the Government Did That Day

The Tenet indictment was announced alongside a wider set of actions targeting Russian influence operations before the 2024 election. The Treasury Department sanctioned 10 individuals and two entities, including RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan and both indicted RT employees, blocking their U.S.-based property and barring Americans from transacting with them. The State Department designated Rossiya Segodnya and its subsidiaries, including RT, RIA Novosti, Ruptly, and Sputnik, as foreign missions, requiring them to disclose U.S.-based personnel and properties.¹⁰

The FBI separately seized 32 internet domains tied to a Russian influence operation known as “Doppelganger,” which used AI-generated content and fake news sites to push Kremlin messaging. Doppelganger was directed by the Russian Presidential Administration and is a separate operation from the Tenet Media scheme, which was run through RT.¹¹

Where the Case Stands

As of mid-2026, Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva remain at large. No additional court filings have been reported since the initial indictment, and no arrests, extraditions, or plea agreements have followed. Chen has claimed the investigation into Tenet Media was closed, but the Justice Department has not confirmed that.⁹ None of the six influencers have been charged, subpoenaed, or reported to face any legal or financial consequences tied to the money they received.³

1
U.S. Department of Justice. Two RT Employees Indicted Covertly Funding and Directing US Company
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CBC News. Russian Influence Election Tenet Media Chen Southern
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PBS NewsHour. Well-Known Right-Wing Influencers Duped to Work for Covert Russian Operation
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CourtListener. United States v. Kalashnikov
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U.S. Department of Justice. U.S. v. Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva Indictment
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Columbia Journalism Review. The Battle for the American Mind
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CNN. Right-Wing Media Influencers Tenet Russian Money
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The Washington Post. YouTube Takes Down Tenet Lauren Chen Channels
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Forbes. Trump Welcomes an Accused Russia Propagandist Back to the US
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U.S. Department of the Treasury. Treasury Targets Russian Malign Influence Operations
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Lawfare. Justice Dept. Disrupts Russian Influence Campaign, Indicts Russian Nationals