Lauren Chen is no longer with Blaze Media after the Department of Justice (DOJ) accused her of misleading other conservative influencers about Russian money her company had been paying them.
Semafor reported on Thursday that Chen had been fired by Blaze Media, where she had contributed videos to Blaze TV, a day after she was referenced in a federal indictment against two Russia Today (RT) employees.
“Lauren Chen was an independent contractor, whose contract has been terminated,” Blaze Media CEO Tyler Cardon said in an email. Semafor also noted Chen did not return a request for comment.
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The RT employees, a pair of Russian nationals, were charged with conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act and conspiracy to commit money laundering, the DOJ announced on Wednesday.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said the defendants were implicated in a “$10 million scheme to create and distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging.”
Chen, a Canadian-born YouTuber and former RT employee, and her husband, Liam Donovan, are not named but referenced in the indictment as founders of a company identified as Tenet Media.
The Russian defendants allegedly worked with Chen and Donovan to “mask” the “true source of funding” for the company, which the indictment revealed to be RT — a Russian state broadcaster.
Chen and Donovan were accused of “falsely portraying” to commentators that their company was sponsored by a private investor named “Eduard Grigoriann” — a persona that turned out to be fake.
Tenet was also not named, but as noted by The Washington Post, a quote from its YouTube Channel is identical to one that appears in the indictment. The company’s Tennessee roots are also a match.
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Similar extrapolations have been made to identify conservative influencers who may be referenced in the indictment as potential victims of deceit, some of whom have since released statements.
“These allegations clearly show that I and other commentators were the victims of this scheme. I knew absolutely nothing about any of this fraudulent activity. Period,” Dave Rubin said in a post to X.
Podcast host Tim Pool also posted to X about the indictment, declaring, “Should these allegations prove true, I as well as the other personalities and commentators were deceived and are victims.”
