Tenet case: DOJ reveals Russian scheme to influence public opinion with fake media and the deceit of prominent conservative commentators

The Department of Justice accused two employees of the Russian media outlet RT of plotting a scheme to influence the United States by misleading conservative influencers. The DOJ alleges that these commentators were duped through "fake personas and shell companies" to conduct a "secret influence campaign" in the country.

In this case, the scheme was as follows: RT, a media outlet financed by Vladimir Putin's government, contacted journalist Lauren Chen to form a new independent media outlet and help recruit conservative opinion leaders. Chen, a Canadian living in the United States, began recruiting people, and among them were Dave Rubin, Tim Pool, and Benny Johnson, who amassed millions of followers on social media.

The Russians earmarked $10 million to form Tenet Media, the front chosen to carry out their plan. According to the DOJ indictment, only Chen was aware of the true origin of the funds, so she misled the influencers in question with a fictitious story. According to her version, the actual investor was a supposed French businessman named Eduard Grigoriann. In reality, he did not exist; his name was a front created by the Russian authorities.

Anchorwoman Megyn Kelly was not involved in the case but revealed some details on her daily show. As she reported, Tenet Media offered large sums of money to future victims, which were around $400,000 per month, including various bonuses.

As for the two accused RT employees, they allegedly forged their identities to run this media company that published a lot of content on TikTok, Instagram, X and YouTube. "Since its public launch in or around November 2023, US Company-1 (Tenet) has posted nearly 2,000 videos that have garnered more than 16 million views on YouTube alone," federal authorities explained.

"Many of the videos posted by US Company-1 (Tenet) contain commentary on events and problems in the United States, such as immigration, inflation and other issues related to domestic and foreign policy. While the views expressed in the videos are not uniform, most are directed at the publicly stated goals of the Russian government and RT: to amplify domestic divisions in the United States," the DOJ added.

"We were victims of this alleged scheme"

Some of the victims expressed themselves on social media after the DOJ indictment became known. One of them was Benny Johnson, who posted his disclaimer on his X account.

"A year ago, a media startup pitched my company to provide content as an independent contractor. Our lawyers negotiated a standard, arms length deal, which was later terminated. We are disturbed by the allegations in today’s indictment, which make clear that myself and other influencers were victims in this alleged scheme. My lawyers will handle anyone who states or suggests otherwise," he wrote.

He was joined by Pool, who used the same social media platform to react to the allegations. "Should these allegations prove true, I as well as the other personalities and commentators were deceived and are victims. I cannot speak for anyone else at the company as to what they do or to what they are instructed. Never at any point did anyone other than I have full editorial control of the show and the contents of the show are often apolitical. Examples include discussing spirituality, dating, and videos games. The show is produced in its entirety by our local team without input from anyone external to the company," he explained.

"Always follow the money"

Sebastian Gorka, a former Trump administration official and current political commentator, reflected on the case on his social media, revealing that the Tenet screen also recruited him.

"Always follow the money. In February 2023, Lauren Chen approached me to be a face for the new media outlet Tenet Media. The money looked great. But I wanted to know where it was coming from. Simple question, you would think," Gorka began, who left the White House in August 2017.

"After pushing repeatedly she gave me names of people who had no internet footprint - like one Eduard Grigoriann - or who had zero media connections. I mean none. It just didn’t add up", he added.

Finally, he linked the alleged French investor to the Putin government. "WARNING: If you have a brand and someone wants to leverage it, find out who they are. It’s that simple. FYI: According to yesterday’s DoJ indictment, Eduard Grigoriann doesn’t even exist and was invented by RT and the Kremlin", he concluded.