we alleged that as part of that effort RT and its employees including the defendants implemented a nearly $10 million scheme to fund and direct a Tennessee based company to publish and disseminate content deemed favorable to the Russian government to implement this scheme the defendants directed the company to contract with us-based social media influencers to share this content on their platforms the subject matter and content of many of the videos published by the company were often consistent with Russia’s interest in amplifying US domestic divisions in order to weaken us opposition to core russian interests particularly its ongoing war in Ukraine