October 19, 2018

DOJ Charges Russian With Conspiring to Disrupt 2018 Elections

Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova is accused of managing the finances of multi-million-dollar interference effort.

Kremlin pool/Zumapress

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The Justice Department on Friday filed a complaint against Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova, a 44-year-old Russian national who, prosecutors allege, was the chief accountant managing the finances for Project Lakhta, Russia’s political influence operation aimed at disrupting elections in the United States and other countries. 

Khusyaynova is charged with participating in a conspiracy to disrupt US elections, including the upcoming 2018 midterms. The complaint alleges that Khusyaynova controlled millions of dollars in Project Lakhta’s operating budget, including money spent in the US on domain names, proxy servers, advertisements on social media, and more. The DOJ alleges that she managed the financing of “media and influence activities” directed at the US, the European Union, Ukraine, and Russia itself. 

Project Lakhta is an umbrella effort funded by Russian oligarch Yevgeniy Prighozin and the companies he controls, Concord Management and Consulting and Concord Catering. In February, Special Counsel Robert Mueller charged both Concord companies and Prighozin himself with conspiring to interfere in the 2016 US election.

You can read the full complaint below:

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

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