According to the US Department of Justice, two employees of the Russian broadcaster RT secretly paid $10 million to a Tennessee-based media company.

The United States has announced a series of measures to combat Russian attempts to influence the 2024 presidential election, including the indictment of two state media employees accused of secretly funding a U.S. media outlet to sow political divisions.

In an indictment released on Wednesday, the US Department of Justice alleged that two employees of the Russian broadcaster RT paid $10 million to a media company in the US state of Tennessee as part of a Moscow-directed influence operation using front companies and false identities.

Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva are accused of conspiracy to launder money and conspiracy to violate the law on registration of foreign agents.

US Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said the influence campaign was aimed at a US audience with “hidden messages from the Russian government”.

“The company never disclosed its ties to RT and the Russian government to the influencers – or their millions of followers. Instead, the defendants and the company claimed that the company was sponsored by a private investor. That private investor was a fictitious person,” Garland said.

Garland said authorities would not tolerate attempts by an “authoritarian regime to exploit the free exchange of ideas in our country to secretly advance its own propaganda efforts” and that investigations were ongoing.

While U.S. authorities did not name the Tennessee-based media outlet, the indictment says the company describes itself as a “network of heterodox commentators focusing on Western political and cultural issues.”

The description fits Tenet Media, a network of influencers known for their right-wing views that includes Dave Rubin, Tim Pool, Lauren Southern and Benny Johnson.

Tenet Media and RT did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Rubin said the allegations “clearly demonstrate that I and other commentators were victims of this conspiracy.”

“I knew absolutely nothing about these fraudulent activities,” he said in a post on X.

Johnson said he was “troubled” by the allegations, which “make it clear that I and other influencers were victims of this alleged plot.”

“My lawyers will deal with anyone who claims or suggests otherwise,” he said on X.

Pool said if the allegations were true, he had been deceived.

“At no point did anyone other than me have full editorial control over the program and the content of the program is often apolitical,” he told X.

Separately, US authorities said they had seized 32 internet domains used in Russia-led “malicious influence campaigns” aimed at interfering in the US election and reducing international support for Ukraine.

“Companies acting on behalf of the Russian government have created websites to trick Americans into unwittingly consuming Russian propaganda,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement.

“By seizing these websites, the FBI is making it clear to the world what this is about: Russian attempts to interfere in our elections and influence our society.”

U.S. officials have repeatedly accused foreign governments, including Moscow, of attempting to interfere in the country’s elections, including the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.

Last month, US intelligence agencies accused Iran of conducting cyberattacks on the presidential campaigns of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and Republican candidate Donald Trump.

In May, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines identified Russia, China and Iran as the most active “foreign actors” trying to interfere in elections.

In 2018, U.S. prosecutors indicted 13 Russian citizens and companies for interfering in the 2016 election in favor of then-candidate Trump.