U.S. Offers Reward to Know Russian Interference in U.S. Elections
The announcement is part of the United States Government’s wider efforts to ensure the security and integrity of its elections.
The U.S. Department of State’s Rewards for Justice (RFJ) program, administered by the Diplomatic Security Service, is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information on foreign interference in U.S. elections.
The reward offer seeks information leading to the identification or location of any foreign person, including a foreign entity, who knowingly engaged or is engaging in interference in U.S. elections, as well as information leading to the prevention, frustration, or favorable resolution of an act of foreign election interference.
This announcement from RFJ is part of the United States Government’s wider efforts to ensure the security and integrity of its elections and protect against foreign interference in our elections. The Department seeks information on Internet Research Agency LLC (“IRA”), Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin, and linked Russian entities and associates for their engagement in U.S. election interference.
According to the U.S. State Department statement released on July 28, IRA is a Russian entity engaged in political and electoral interference operations. Beginning as early as 2014, IRA began operations to interfere with the U.S. political system, including the 2016 U.S. presidential election, with a strategic goal to sow discord.
Do you work for Yevgeniy PRIGOZHIN and/or #InternetResearchAgency? Want to earn up to $10M? 💰 LET’S CHAT.
Drop us a line on the Dark web at: https://t.co/WvkI416g4W#RewardsForJustice #Elections pic.twitter.com/scIHB08JNP— Rewards for Justice (@RFJ_USA) July 28, 2022
According to the statement, IRA operated through several Russian entities, including Internet Research LLC, MediaSintez LLC, GlavSet LLC, MixInfo LLC, Azimut LLC, and NovInfo LLC. Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin is a Russian national who provided funding to the IRA through the companies he controlled, Concord Management and Consulting LLC and Concord Catering (collectively “Concord”). Concord sent funds, recommended personnel, and oversaw IRA’s activities through reporting and interaction with IRA’s management.
Mikhail Ivanovich Bystrov, Mikhail Leonidovich Burchik, Aleksandra Yuryevna Krylova, Anna Vladislavovna Bogacheva, Sergey Pavlovich Polozov, Maria Anatolyevna Bovda, Robert Sergeyevich Bovda, Dzheykhun Nasimi Ogly Aslanov, Vadim Vladimirovich Podkopaev, Gleb Igorevich Vasilchenko, Irina Viktorovna Kaverzina, and Vladimir Venkov worked in various capacities to carry out IRA’s interference operations targeting the United States.
The U.S. statement adds that they knowingly and intentionally conspired to defraud the United States by impairing, obstructing, and defeating the lawful functions of the government through fraud and deceit for the purpose of interfering with the U.S. political and electoral processes, including the presidential election of 2016.
The U.S. seeks information on the IRA, Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin, and associated Russian entities and/or individuals linked to interference in U.S. elections. The persons with such information can contact the Rewards for Justice office via its Tor-based tips-reporting channel.
Rewards for Justice is a national security program administered by the Diplomatic Security Service at the U.S. Department of State. Since its inception in 1984, the program has paid out in excess of $250 million to more than 125 people across the globe who provided actionable information that had helped resolve threats to U.S. national security.
