Who owns Tenet Media, the company that reportedly pushed Russian propaganda?
The DOJ unsealed an indictment alleging a right-wing US media company knowingly accepted millions from two Russian nationals to push Kremlin propaganda.
The Justice Department unsealed an indictment on Wednesday accusing two Russian nationals of funneling $10 million through a conservative media company to spread Kremlin propaganda. The two named individuals in the complaint are Kostiantyn “Kostya” Kalashnikov and Elena “Lena” Afanasyeva, both of whom are employees of RT, a Russian state-controlled media outlet.
The money was given to Tenet Media, which isn’t specifically named in the indictment only referred to as “U.S. Company 1,” for the purpose of creating and distributing content to US audiences “with hidden Russian government messaging.” The legal filing alleges that its founders were aware of the scheme and neither they nor the company registered, as required by law, as an agent of a foreign principal with the Attorney General.
Who owns Tenet Media, the company that reportedly pushed Russian propaganda?
The two founders of the Tennessee-based content creation firm have been identified as Lauren Chen and her husband Liam Donovan by Mother Jones. Chen’s social media lists her as host of Mediaholic & Pseudo-Intellectual, a show on Blaze TV, as well as a Turning Point USA contributor. Donovan, identifies himself on X, formerly known as Twitter, as the president of Tenet Media and on Instagram, as the “producer and husband of @TheLaurenChen.”
The indictment, filed in the federal court for the Southern District of New York, says that they worked to deceive at least two online US commentators about the source of the company’s funding with the intent of using their names and leveraging their existing audiences. “Commentator-I” and “Commentator-2″ have been identified as Dave Rubin and Tim Pool by Mother Jones based on information in the indictment.
The Tennessee-based content creation firm lists a total of six commentators on its website. The others include Benny Johnson, Tayler Hansen, Matt Christiansen and Lauren Southern. Most have professed their shock at the allegations disclosed in the indictment. In a statement posted on social media Pool said that he has always had “full editorial control” of his show. Christiansen and Hansen both expressed that they had similar independence over the content they published.