Blu Blog

Tenet Media

Wed 04 September 2024

I'm always a fan of big bombshells dropping that make right-wing dipshits look like... dipshits. This indictment of two Russian nationals, Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, for their work with RT to fund a certain American media company's output for the benefit of the Russian Federation is very fun, but it's also pretty complicated. So, I decided to have a closer look and pull the facts out of the indictment so we could have a clearer list of what we know about individuals, organizations, and events mentioned. I then tied those to what we know about Tenet Media to make it clear the indictment is about them specifically and put the events together into a timeline.

Overall, the evidence paints a pretty clear picture that Tenet Media leadership knew quite conclusively that they were being paid by RT, or at least Russian state media. It does not indicate that the commentators--Tim Pool, Benny Johnson, Dave Rubin--knew, which is almost more damning because WOW how fucking stupid can you be? Tim Pool (or, as he's known in some places, Pim Tool) was especially fun to watch break down after this. He seems to be realizing on camera the extent to which he was literally just a useful idiot with all his "Ukraine is bad actually" content.

Media links

Original Indictment PDF

The video of Tucker Carlson grocery shopping

DailyDot article

List of parties

  1. Konstiantyn Kalashnikov
    1. aka Kostya
    2. Deputy Chief of the Digital Media Projects Department for RT
    3. manages more "covert distribution channels" than just Company-1
    4. introduced as an outside editor to Company-1, without disclosing he was an RT employee
  2. Elena Afanasyeva
    1. aka Lena
    2. aka Helena Shudra
    3. aka Victoria Pesti
    4. "Producer" at RT
    5. Introduced as an editor on Kostya's team, without disclosing she was an RT employee
  3. U.S. Company-1
    1. Tennessee-based
    2. online content creation company
    3. "commentary on events and issues in the United States, such as immigration, inflation, and other topics related to domestic and foreign policy" that is often "consistent with the Government of Russia' s interest in amplifying U.S . domestic divisions"
    4. Publicly launched in Nov 2023
    5. subsidiary of Canadian Company-1
    6. incorporated Jan 19th, 2022
    7. Current name across website + socmed was changed on May 22nd, 2023
    8. describes itself as "network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues"
  4. Founders1+2 Jointly
    1. Foreign Nationals who reside in U.S.
    2. Control and operate Company-1
    3. only authorized signatories on the bank account
    4. Talked about the 'investors' as "the Russians"
    5. Invoiced $760k from August 2023 to June 2024
  5. Founder-1
    1. Owns and runs Canadian Company-1
    2. from march 2021 to feb 2022, made vids, social media, and articles "pursuant to a written contract between [Canadian Company-1] and [RT]
    3. googled Eduard Grigoriann twice in April of 2023
    4. after the second googling, emailed Persona-1 saying Commentator-1 was "really insisting on seeing some materials (profile, article, whatever) on Eduard"
    5. "focuses on the more forward-facing aspects" of the venture
    6. Authorized Afanasyeva and Kalashnikov to post content directly on Company-1's platform in jun 2024
  6. Founder-2
    1. Worked directly for RT and Ruptly GmbH, a German subsidiary of RT
    2. Had overlap in that contract with Kostya
    3. "mostly helping with the company's back end of things"
  7. Commentator-1
    1. 2.4 million YouTube subs (Rubin Report has 2.45m subs rn, Benny Johnson has 2.39m subs rn)
    2. contacted Feb 2023 by Founder-1 to produce content on behalf of Eduard Grigoriann
    3. asked for materials about EG
    4. complained about EG's profile referring to social justice
    5. Contract was for Commentator-1s production company and Company-1. Monthly fee of $400k, $100k signing bonus. All content property of Company-1
  8. Commentator-2
    1. 1.3 million YouTube subs (Tim Pool has 1.37m subs rn)
    2. contacted Feb 2023 by Founder-1 to perform on behalf of Eduard Grigoriann
    3. would likely cost $2m a year to hire (works out to about 100k per vid, 4 vids a week)
    4. met Eduard Grigoriann and Personas 1+2 on a call. Commentator 2 originally requested a cellphone call, but Persona-2 requested WhatsApp or Zoom
    5. expressed uncertainty in the contract even after the meeting with EG
    6. Contract was for Commentator-2s production company and Company-1. $100k per video, licensed to Company-1
  9. Commentator-3
    1. said he was happy to cover Moscow terror attack in mar 2024 when asked by Founder-1 (on behalf of Afanasyeva)
  10. Commentator-4
    1. Referred to as "she", meaning it's likely she's Lauren Southern
  11. Commentator-6
    1. Posted YouTube vid Nov 1st announcing Company-1 as a project of F1+2 "trying to build a new platform for independent media", mentions the 6 commentators
  12. Eduard Grigoriann and Personas 1-3
    1. Fake person and his reps/employees
    2. email from Persona-2 to Founder-1 is found as a sent item in Persona-1's email outbox to Persona-2
    3. Scheduled a meeting for "5:00 PM Paris", sent an email at 5pm moscow time saying "I am there guys." Then googled "paris time" and sent a follow up email apologizing for getting the hour wrong
  13. Producer-1
    1. worked with Founders 1+2 and Producer-2 on content for RT from march 2021 to feb 2022
    2. Pushed back in feb 2024 on sharing Tucker Carlson's Russian grocery store propaganda clip
    3. Pushed back in march 2024 about sharing Moscow terrorist attack clip, complaining about graphic violence and blurred watermark in footage
  14. Producer-2
    1. worked with Founders 1+2 and Producer-1 on content for RT from march 2021 to feb 2022
  15. Producer-3

Rundown

I'm going to do this with quotes from the indictment appearing indented, followed by notes about what those quotes mean.

First:

One of RT's "covert projects," as described herein, is its funding and direction of a Tennessee-based online content creation company ("U.S. Company-1")

The TN-based content company seems to be Tenet Media, who boast a talent pool of 6 creators. Dave Rubin, Tim Pool, Benny Johnson, and others.

TN Secretary of State business filings for Tenet Media

Screenshot of articles of amendment for Tenet Media

Second:

KALASHNIKOV, AFANASYEVA, Founder-1, and Founder-2 also worked together to deceive two U.S. online commentators ("Commentator-1" and "Commentator-2" ), who respectively have over 2.4 million and 1.3 million YouTube subscribers. Founder-1 and Founder-2 contracted with Commentator-1 and Commentator-2 to produce videos

From the outset, the indictment doesn't claim the commentators (who would likely be the talent of Tenet Media) are in on the game. Only the founders (who would be Lauren Chen and Liam Donovan) could be, since they directly interacted with Kostya and Lena.

Third:

Founder-1 sent Commentator-1 a one-page profile, provided to Founder-1 by another fictional persona purporting to represent "Eduard Grigoriann," After receiving the fictitious profile, Commentator-1 agreed to work with U.S. Company-1

So Commentator-1 pushed back a little and got this CV about Grigoriann, which seemed to mollify him.

Sections 40-42 go into great length about the shell corporations and how they're very obviously not digital media companies, nor are they the contract counterparty, nor are the payment memos relevant. Seems to be implying F1+2 had to know it was illegit.

Timeline

January 5th, 2022: Founder-2 messaged an acquaintance on Discord about paid leave that "[t]he Russians" had offered to Founder-1.

October 2021 to May 2022: separate and apart from Founder-1' s contract with RT's parent organization, ANO-TV Novosti, Founder-2 also worked directly for RT and with Ruptly GmbH, RT's German subsidiary. Founder-2's paid work for RT included, among other things, preparing English-language text messages describing news events.

May 18, 2022: a Ruptly GmbH employee sent a Russian-language email to six recipients, including Founder-2 and KALASHNIKOV, requesting that they send their work email addresses to gain account access to Ruptly's website.

March 2021 to February 2022: Founder-1 used Canadian Company-1 to produce content for RT pursuant to a written contract

January 19, 2022 Founder-1 incorporated U.S. Company-1

May 22, 2023 [Founder-1] applied with the Tennessee Department of State to transact business under its current operating name

December 2022 Founder-1 began working with an individual operating under the fictitious name "Eduard Grigoriann," and three purported representatives... to launch a new YouTube channel, initially under the name "Viewpoint Productions."

January 10, 2023 Persona-2 told Founder-1 that Founder-1' s "first task" was to "find a personality that could serve as the face of the channel," and that "for the right candidate we're willing to pay around $1-2 million per year."

January 13, 2023 Persona-2 sent Founder-1 a proposed contract for Founder-1 's "Influencer Talent Scouting" services, with Founder-1 listed as the "Agent" and a Hungarian entity ("Hungarian Shell Entity-1 ") listed as the "Client."... contract awarded Founder-1 $8,000 per month.

February 6, 2023 Persona-1 emailed Founder-1 a "shortlist of candidates" for the YouTube channel, including Commentator-1 and Commentator-2.

February 6, 2023 Founder-1 had reached out to Commentator-1 and "will be speaking with him today."

February 7, 2023 Persona-1 responded that "Mr Grigorian"... was "OK with over $2m as long as we get the right person on board, under the right conditions." Founder-1 agreed to contact Commentator-2 as well.

February 8, 2023 Founder-1 advised that Commentator-1 said "it would need to be closer to 5 million yearly for him to be interested," and that Commentator-2 said "it would take 100k per weekly episode to make it worth his while." Founder-1 cautioned that "from a profitability standpoint, it would be very hard for Viewpoint... to recoup the costs for the likes of [Commentator-1] and [Commentator-2] based on ad revenue from web traffic or sponsors alone.

February 14, 2023 Persona-1 informed Founder-1 that "[w]e would love to move forward with [Commentator-1 and Commentator-2]."

February 17, 2023 Founder-1 intro between Commentator-2 and Eduard Grigoriann

February 22, 2023 Intro call between Commentator-2 and Eduard Grigoriann takes place

February 22, 2023 Founder-1 emailed Persona-1 that Founder-1 had spoken with Commentator-2, who was "happy with the licensing arrangement that was discussed" on Commentator-2 ' s call with "Eduard Grigoriann." Founder-1 continued, however, that Commentator-2 "still would like to know more about the company and who he will be working with."

February 28, 2023 Founder-1 emailed Persona-1 that Founder- 1 had spoken with Commentator-1, who would "like some material about Mr Grigoriann to learn a bit about who [Commentator-1 would] be working with." Founder-1 asked if there were "any links (press release, interviews, Linkedin, profiles, etc) we can forward" Commentator-1 about "Eduard Grigoriann."

March 2, 2023 Persona-1 responded to Founder-1's email, writing that Persona-1 was unsure that "Mr. Grigoriann ... gave out any public interviews, but you could send [Commentator-1] our LinkedIn page," with a hyperlink to a Linkedln page for Viewpoint Productions.

April 21 , 2023 and April 24, 2023 Founder-1 performed Google searches for "Eduard Grigoriann" and for "[Bank-1] Eduard Grigoriann." As of in or about August 2024, neither Google search returns any results for a person by that name.

April 24, 2023 Founder-1 emailed Persona-1 that Commentator-1 was "really insisting on seeing some materials (profile, article, whatever) on Eduard before [Commentator-1] feels comfortable moving forward. Is there anything we can provide [Commentator-I] with?" Persona-1 responded that "we'll send you a profile on Mr. Grigoriann that you could send over to [Commentator-1]."

May 4, 2023 Persona-1 emails Founder-1 the CV for Commentator-1

Conclusion

All in all, a damning stack of evidence that Tenet Media took a startling amount of money from Russia to peddle their obvious propaganda. The flimsy personas, shell companies, ridiculous payment amounts, and absurd content were also all obvious enough that the commentators should have known. In fact, while it'd be difficult to say for sure--especially to a court's satisfaction--I feel personally confident that they all had to at least suspect something was up. Right-wing dipshits are fundamentally incurious, but this feels beyond the pale. I am reminded of the Upton Sinclaire quote, "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!"

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