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groundloop

(11,488 posts)
Fri Oct 19, 2018, 04:16 PM Oct 2018

Russian national charged with conspiracy to meddle in 2018 midterm elections

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by NH Ethylene (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: CBS News

A Russian national has become the first person charged by the U.S. for conspiring to interfere in the 2018 midterm elections, according to the FBI and Justice Department. Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova is alleged to have participated in a conspiracy to "sow discord in the U.S. political system and to undermine faith in our democratic institutions," U.S. Attorney Zachary Terwilliger, of the Eastern District of Virginia, said in the indictment. The government says that the conspiracy is also part of the 2016 influence operation that dates back to at least May 2014.

Forty-four-year-old Khusyaynova, of St. Petersburg, was the chief accountant of "Project Lakhta," an effort funded by Russian oligarch Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin and two companies he controls, Concord Management and Consulting LLC, and Concord Catering, the indictment says. Prigozhin is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and is often referred to as "Putin's chef."

Khusyaynova is accused of overseeing a $35 million budget from 2014 to 2018 that covered spending on activists, social media advertising, registration of domain names, the purchase of proxy servers, and promoting news postings on social networks. The Justice Department says that the proposed operating budget for 2018 alone was over $10 million.

The indictment says that this was a large-scale operation overseen by a management group and notes that there were several departments, including a graphics and design department, one devoted to analysis, and another to search engine optimization, as well as an IT, and a finance department. Khusyaynova's role was to manage the financing "of substantially all aspects of Project operations, which included media and influence activities" aimed at the U.S., European Union and Ukraine, as well as the Russian Federation.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russian-national-charged-with-conspiracy-to-meddle-in-2018-midterm-elections/

9 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Russian national charged with conspiracy to meddle in 2018 midterm elections (Original Post) groundloop Oct 2018 OP
The full DOJ filing is *extremely* detailed. SeattleVet Oct 2018 #1
Yes, they have allowed themselves to be used Achilleaze Oct 2018 #5
It's absolutely horrifying ck4829 Oct 2018 #8
But Greenwald said it was all sore loser sour grapes cooked up by Hillary?!? Blue_Tires Oct 2018 #2
Exactly. iluvtennis Oct 2018 #4
Wow, the midterms also. iluvtennis Oct 2018 #3
Dupe BumRushDaShow Oct 2018 #6
Does anyone here know the difference between an indictment and a complaint? More_Cowbell Oct 2018 #7
Locking Chemisse Oct 2018 #9

SeattleVet

(5,468 posts)
1. The full DOJ filing is *extremely* detailed.
Fri Oct 19, 2018, 04:30 PM
Oct 2018
https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1102316/download?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

I recognize a lot of things that I have seen on social media, and several of the canned responses that they came up with really sound a whole lot like what has been posted over in freeperville over the past couple of years. The phrase 'useful idiots' comes to mind...

Achilleaze

(15,543 posts)
5. Yes, they have allowed themselves to be used
Fri Oct 19, 2018, 05:27 PM
Oct 2018

sad

ck4829

(34,976 posts)
8. It's absolutely horrifying
Fri Oct 19, 2018, 07:42 PM
Oct 2018

Blue_Tires

(55,445 posts)
2. But Greenwald said it was all sore loser sour grapes cooked up by Hillary?!?
Fri Oct 19, 2018, 04:36 PM
Oct 2018

iluvtennis

(19,757 posts)
4. Exactly.
Fri Oct 19, 2018, 05:22 PM
Oct 2018

iluvtennis

(19,757 posts)
3. Wow, the midterms also.
Fri Oct 19, 2018, 05:21 PM
Oct 2018

More_Cowbell

(2,190 posts)
7. Does anyone here know the difference between an indictment and a complaint?
Fri Oct 19, 2018, 07:19 PM
Oct 2018

The document itself, and several media sources, use the word "complaint"

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/19/politics/criminal-complaint-elena-alekseevna-khusyaynova-russia/index.html

But this story and other ones use indictment. I have a law degree but am not active and I don't understand it. It seems like most of the time, prosecutors submit an indictment to a grand jury to get criminal charges later.

Mueller's team doesn't leak, but it does provide a lot more details in court filings than are usually provided. I expect it's to get other coconspirators to realize that they should come clean. But I'm not sure what the complaint/indictment difference is.

Thanks in advance!

Chemisse

(30,793 posts)
9. Locking
Fri Oct 19, 2018, 11:16 PM
Oct 2018

Duplicate of https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142182326

Please continue the discussion in the original thread.

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