Tenet Media Officially Launches Conservative Content Network with Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, Benny Johnson and Others

Tenet Media publicly launched on November 8, 2023 as a conservative media company featuring six prominent right-wing influencers: Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, Benny Johnson, Lauren Southern, Tayler Hansen, and Matt Christiansen. Founded by Lauren Chen and Liam Donovan, the company presented itself as funded by a wealthy European investor named “Eduard Grigoriann”—a completely fictitious person whose resume portrayed him as a Brussels-born financier and philanthropist with no actual digital footprint or public record of existence.

The Fictitious Funder

The “Eduard Grigoriann” persona was elaborately crafted:

• Portrayed as Brussels-born financier and philanthropist
• Resume included supposed business accomplishments and wealth
• No digital footprint, LinkedIn profile, or public record of existence
• Designed to explain the extraordinary funding amounts without revealing Russian sources

This fiction allowed Chen and Donovan to recruit high-profile influencers while concealing that funding came from RT (Russia Today) via shell companies in Turkey, UAE, and Mauritius.

Extraordinary Payment Amounts

The contracts offered to influencers were remarkably lucrative, later revealed in DOJ indictments:

“Commentator-2” (later identified as Dave Rubin):

• $400,000 per month
• Plus $100,000 signing bonus
• For four weekly videos

Tim Pool:

• $100,000 per video (based on reporting)
• Multiple videos per month

These amounts far exceeded typical podcast sponsorship rates, but the promise of a wealthy European benefactor provided cover for why payments were so extraordinary.

The Six Influencers

Tim Pool: Popular podcast host with millions of followers, known for anti-establishment conservative commentary.

Dave Rubin: Former progressive turned conservative, host of “The Rubin Report” with significant YouTube audience.

Benny Johnson: Conservative political commentator, former Turning Point USA chief creative officer.

Lauren Southern: Canadian far-right political activist and commentator.

Tayler Hansen: Right-wing activist and commentator.

Matt Christiansen: Conservative YouTube commentator and podcaster.

All six had established audiences and reputations in conservative media, making them valuable vehicles for reaching American conservative viewers with content that (unknown to them, they would later claim) advanced Russian narratives.

Content Production and Reach

Over the following ten months (November 2023 to September 2024), Tenet Media would produce:

• Over 2,000 videos
• More than 16 million YouTube views
• Content primarily focused on U.S. politics, election integrity, Ukraine skepticism, and narratives beneficial to Russian interests

The operation represented a sophisticated evolution from RT America’s overt Russian branding to covert funding of American influencers who could reach conservative audiences without foreign media labeling.

The Funding Reality

While presented as coming from “Eduard Grigoriann,” the DOJ would later reveal in September 2024:

• $9.7 million of $10.8 million (90%) in Tenet’s bank deposits came from Russian state media
• Funding routed through shell companies in Turkey, UAE, and Mauritius
• Payments disguised as purchases of electronics like iPhones
• Two RT employees (Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva) directed the operation

Editorial Influence

According to later DOJ revelations, RT operatives maintained significant editorial influence despite influencers’ claims of independence:

• Specific content requests and guidance from Russian handlers
• Preferred narratives around Ukraine, U.S. politics, and election integrity
• Coordination on timing of certain content releases
• Feedback on which content performed well and should be amplified

The level of direction contradicted influencers’ later claims of complete editorial independence.

Context: Evolution of Russian Influence

Tenet Media’s launch represented the latest iteration of Russian influence operations:

2015-2018: Maria Butina/NRA human intelligence infiltration 2016-2022: RT America overt Russian state media outlet November 2023: Tenet Media covert funding of American influencers (this event)

Each iteration adapted to American counterintelligence awareness, moving from human networks to overt media to completely covert funding with elaborate cover stories.

Significance: The Covert Model

Tenet Media’s launch perfected several elements of covert influence:

American Faces: No Russian branding or foreign accents—content came from trusted American conservative commentators.

Plausible Deniability: Fictitious European funder and shell company payments allowed influencers to claim ignorance of Russian backing.

Editorial Independence Illusion: Influencers believed (or claimed to believe) they had complete content control, making direction more subtle and harder to prove.

Audience Trust: Conservative viewers trusted Pool, Rubin, and others far more than they would trust RT-branded content.

Sophisticated Tradecraft: Multiple layers of shell companies, fictitious identities, and payment obfuscation made detection extremely difficult.

Ten Months to Exposure

Tenet Media operated for ten months before DOJ exposure in September 2024, producing thousands of videos seen by millions. During this period:

• Influencers collectively earned millions while advancing Russian narratives
• American conservative audiences consumed content beneficial to Russian interests without knowing the foreign backing
• The model proved effective enough that Russia likely attempted or considered similar operations with other influencers

When the operation was finally exposed in September 2024, it revealed not just one company’s Russian funding, but a template for how foreign influence could be successfully disguised within American political media through covert payments to established influencers.

The question wasn’t just whether Tenet Media received Russian funding—it was how many other similar operations existed that hadn’t yet been detected.