According to a federal indictment, a Green Hills-based “online content creation company” is at the center of a covert Russian propaganda effort that aims to “illegally manipulate American public opinion by sowing discord and division.”
While not specifically named in the indictment, the company referred to by prosecutors as “U.S. Company-1” is Nashville's Tenet Media, which has a Burton Hills Boulevard address on file, with the state of Tennessee listed as its principal office. Tenet Media registered as a business with the state in January 2022. Those state documents show that Tenet is a part of Roaming USA Corp., which has a Brentwood address on file with the state.
Prosecutors allege that the company was created by Russian state-controlled media outlet RT — and by extension the Russian government — as a “covert project” that ramped up operations in the U.S. following February 2022 sanctions banning the outlet from operating in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and much of Europe after the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Tenet Media describes itself as a “network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues” — the same description of U.S. Company-1 detailed in the indictment.
According to court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, two Russian nationals — 31-year-old Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and 27-year-old Elena Afanasyeva — have been charged with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Both Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva are employees of RT, formerly known as Russia Today. Both remain at large.
According to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, the duo were involved in a “$10 million scheme to create and distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging.” The money was allegedly paid to Tenet Media from seven “foreign shell entities.”
“The Justice Department will not tolerate attempts by an authoritarian regime to exploit our country’s free exchange of ideas in order to covertly further its own propaganda efforts, and our investigation into this matter remains ongoing,” Garland says in a release issued Wednesday.
The Washington Post reports that Tenet Media was founded by right-wing commentator Lauren Chen, who uses the online handle “Roaming Millennial,” and her husband Liam Donovan. The indictment doesn't specifically name Chen and Donovan, and instead refers to them as “Founder-1” and “Founder-2.”
Prosecutors allege that Kalashnikov, Afanasyeva, Chen and Donovan all knew the source of the funds and worked to “deceive two online commentators” and spread Russian propaganda by “leveraging their existing audiences.” While not named in the indictment, based on the listed number of YouTube followers, the two commentators who were specifically “deceived” are likely Dave Rubin and Tim Pool. According to Tenet Media's website, its “talent” includes right-wing podcasters and media influencers Rubin, Pool, Lauren Southern, Tayler Hansen, Matt Christiansen and Benny Johnson.
In 2022, Johnson encouraged Williamson County students to fight the “culture war” with memes and ridicule at a Turning Point USA event in Franklin. Tennessee Republican leaders including U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn and U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles have regularly amplified talking points from Tenet’s talking heads. Blackburn also appeared on several podcast episodes with Chen in 2021 and 2022.
This isn't the first time Tennessee has been tied to Russian propaganda efforts. As reported by the Nashville Banner, local attorney G. Kline Preston IV and conservative pundit Steve Gill both served as “foreign observers” of Russian elections in occupied Ukrainian territories in 2023.
Many of the content creators have made public statements about the indictment, including Johnson.
“A year ago, a media startup pitched my company to provide content as an independent contractor,” reads the statement that Johnson posted to X, formerly known as Twitter. “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.”
“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,” Pool says in his own social media statement, adding, “Putin is a scumbag, Russia sucks donkey balls.”
Tenet Media has hundreds of thousands of followers across various social media platforms, where they feature videos that sensationalize social issues like diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and LGBTQ rights, and stoke fears of immigrant crime, among other topics. The company's “talent” sports millions of followers across their personal social media pages.
The Scene visited Tenet’s address on file with the state of Tennessee but instead found the offices of Regus, IWG. The Scene was told that Tenet does have a “virtual office” at the suite, but no representative was on site for comment. The building also houses Tenet Health in a separate suite, but a representative said it was unaffiliated with Tenet Media.
According to the Department of Justice, Tenet, its founders, and Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva never registered as a foreign agents as required by law.
“Covert attempts to sow division and trick Americans into unwittingly consuming foreign propaganda represents attacks on our democracy,” says FBI director Christopher Wray in the DOJ statement. “Today’s actions show that as long as foreign adversaries like Russia keep engaging in hostile influence campaigns, they are going to keep running into the FBI. We will continue to do everything we can to expose the hidden hand of foreign adversaries like Russia and disrupt their efforts to meddle in our free and open society.”
