DOJ charges Russia-backed TV network contributor with violating U.S. sanctions and money laundering

WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice has charged a contributor to Channel One Russia, a Russian state-run TV channel, and his wife with violating U.S. sanctions and money laundering.

The indictment, filed and unsealed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, accuses Dmitri Simes, 76, and his wife, Anastasia Simes, of participating in a scheme to violate U.S. sanctions for the benefit of the Russian state-controlled broadcaster and to launder money obtained through that scheme.

Although the Simes' have a home in Huntly, Virginia, the Justice Department said, they "remain at large and are believed to be in Russia." The FBI had raided their home in Virginia in August. Dmitri Simes advised Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign and his name appeared numerous times in the report compiled by former special counsel Robert Mueller on his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The indictment said Dmitri Simes is a dual U.S.-Russian citizen and left the U.S. for the last time in late October 2022. It said his wife is also a dual U.S.-Russian citizen, who last entered the U.S. in February 2024 and returned to Russia that April.

They each were charged with conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, violating the act, and conspiring to commit international money laundering. The Justice Department said that each of the counts carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

After the U.S. sanctioned Channel One Russia in May 2022, from around that June to the present, Dmitri Simes, who had already been working for the broadcaster, continued to provide it with his services, including by hosting and producing a television program called "The Great Game" for the channel, prosecutors say. The indictment alleges that he received more than $1 million from the broadcaster after it was sanctioned.

The Justice Department also said the Simes received a stipend for an apartment in Moscow, a personal driver and car, and a team of 10 employees from the broadcaster. It also said they used the funds from the work for Channel One Russia to buy property in the U.S.

The indictment said the couple had acknowledged that Channel One Russia had been sanctioned by the U.S. and that they didn't obtain approval from the federal government to continue working there.

NBC News reached out to the Simes' for comment on the charges.

Federal prosecutors also charged Anastasia Simes in a second indictment alleging she violated U.S. sanctions by obtaining funds from sanctioned oligarch Aleksandr Yevgenyevich Udodov, a scheme from which he also benefitted.

The indictments come a day after the Biden administration announced a series of actions over Russia's latest efforts to influence U.S. public opinion ahead of the general election in November. The actions included charges against two employees of the Russian-backed media network RT as well as sanctions.