$64,814 per month

The American prosecutor's office has calculated the income of propagandist Dmitry Simes from cooperation with Channel One and brought him to trial along with his wife

On Thursday, the US Department of Justice announced the prosecution of former - and current - Muscovite, 76-year-old Dmitry Konstantinovich Simes (Simis) and his wife, 55-year-old Anastasia Rurikova-Simes. Simes, who immigrated to the United States in 1973, is charged with violating US sanctions imposed on Russia's Channel One, where he co-hosts and produces the show "The Big Game", and for money laundering, which carries a 20-year prison sentence in the US on each count. .

The United States imposed sanctions on Channel One on May 8, 2022, after which cooperation with it became illegal for American citizens. This allegedly did not stop Symes from receiving more than a million dollars from the channel since then.

According to a press release from the US Department of Justice, the defendants in the case have a house near Washington, purchased in 2021 for $1.6 million and located in Hunty, Virginia. When the FBI conducted a four-day search there in August, it seized antiques and many works of art, mostly, according to Simes, that the couple had inherited from their parents.

The 16-page joint indictment against the couple alleges that they allegedly received money transfers through Armenia from Rosbank, which has been under US sanctions since December 15, 2022. The couple, however, used the bank after that, in particular, paying money transferred from it for real estate in the United States. Both did not notify the US Treasury about their relations with Channel One and Rosbank and made no attempt to legitimize these relations with a proper American license.

Simes, who has long had American citizenship, acquired Russian citizenship in September 2022. He last left the US in October 2022 with a US passport and has not returned since. His wife, who has both citizenships, last entered the United States on February 15, 2024, and returned to Russia on April 17.

Judging by the indictment, Washington federal prosecutors are fairly well aware of Simes' life in Russia and are familiar with his correspondence. According to her, on May 25, 2018, he signed a contract with Channel One, according to which he agreed to host a program that later became known as “The Big Game.” He also pledged not to give interviews to Russian media, appear in Russian television advertisements or other Russian television programs without the permission of Channel One, etc. The channel, in turn, allegedly agreed to pay him $64,814 a month.

In addition, the channel agreed to pay for Simes's Moscow hotel, business class air tickets between Moscow and Washington, and medical insurance, provide him with a team of channel employees to help him, and help create a "positive image" for him in the media.

Since 2018, Symes has constantly led the “Big Game”, and his contract has been regularly extended, including twice - after May 8, 2022, when the First fell under sanctions. In total, according to the prosecutor's office,

the channel paid Symes $3,590,000. More than a million occurred in the period after the First was sanctioned.

After this, Simes remarked to the deputy director of the channel that, as he understood, he “no longer has absolutely no right to appear on federal channels. Even for free, even in interview format. Moreover: a violation is considered a criminal offense” ( hereinafter - reverse translation - V.K. ).

In May-June 2022, he told the channel's deputy director, coded in court documents as Person No. 1, that he would like to apply for a license in order to have the right to work on the First, since its absence could “create problems.”

The indictment further alleges that sometime in June 2022, Simes and his wife allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy with each other to violate sanctions against Channel One. Simes continued to conduct the "Great Game", coordinating its content with Russian authorities and receiving instructions from Person No. 1 on this topic. In return, he had a salary totaling more than a million dollars, a personal car with a driver, a paid-for Moscow apartment, medical insurance, air tickets between Moscow and Washington, and a team of 10 assistants.

On June 30, 2022, Symes notified Person #1 that he was ready to immediately fulfill his obligations to the channel, and appeared again on July 4. Since then he has broadcast every week. From June 2022 to March 2023, he reported to Person No. 1 about his meetings at the Foreign Ministry, the Russian Security Council and the General Staff. On July 5, 2022, Simes told Person No. 1 that he received a call from the presidential administration about the sanctions that had fallen on the federal channels of the Russian Federation, and assured that they had given the Foreign Ministry an order to assist him.

In April 2023, Simes told Person No. 1 about an interview given to the Great Game by a certain former American official, and predicted that this interview would “increase the prestige of Channel One and gain the support of management.” According to him, the interview showed that “even the American establishment recognizes that Crimea is ours.”

On June 17, 2023, Simes told the same person that a “Kremlin press secretary” allegedly called him and told him to wait for a call from Putin, who actually called him that day and spoke “very positively” about an upcoming meeting.

In July 2023, Persona No. 1 briefed Simes on how to cover the recent Ukrainian strike on the Kerch Bridge.

On March 11, 2024, they discussed Simes' desire to make a documentary called Menace 2024. According to the charging document, Symes said the film would explore how "the crusade against Russia became Trotsky's belated revenge."

The same document states that Channel One agreed to rent an apartment for Simes for $4,000 a month and compensate him for the taxes he paid. On December 26, 2023, Simes discussed his new contract with the channel, demanded a 20% increase in his salary, citing an unfavorable ruble exchange rate for him, and remarked: “I have to pay in dollars my American taxes, mortgage and other expenses on the house that exceed 10 thousand dollars a month!

The prosecutor's office talks about the difficulties that the bank transfer of money from Russia to the United States has become associated with. As Anastasia Rurikova-Symes complained in a correspondence on August 12, 2022, “our current accountant refused to work with us because no one wants to have anything to do with income from Russia (and with Channel One, which is under sanctions), so for now I’m not I found a replacement."

Every success in the field of money transfer is accompanied in correspondence with a loud “hurray!”

There were successes. For example, on November 12, 2023, the spouses, according to the prosecutor’s office, received a transfer for 112 thousand dollars through an Armenian bank, and on December 23 – for 81,111 dollars.

Since October 2023, the couple transferred a total of $380 thousand to the United States through Armenia. Washington prosecutors are now laying claim to what's left of that money.

A separate indictment in the case of Anastasia Rurikova, the daughter of a top Soviet diplomat, alleges that she participated in a criminal scheme in which she received money from sanctioned businessman Alexander Evgenievich Udodov in violation of sanctions.

Sanctions were imposed on him on February 23, 2023. According to the indictment, starting at least in February 2023, Anastasia Rurikova allegedly purchased works of art and antiques for Udodov from American and European galleries and auctions, in violation of sanctions. They were first sent to the Symes estate in Huntly, where they were stored until they were sent to Russia. Anastasia was reimbursed for the cost of purchases and paid 5% of the money spent for services.

As is clear from her indictment, Anastasia, who is a jewelry designer, contacted one of Udodov’s assistants in July 2022 and asked to help her place her jewelry in a large department store. Udodov introduced her to the owner of a department store, who agreed to put her collection up for sale.

Anastasia, for her part, began making purchases for Udodov, which were first delivered to the Simes estate near Washington, and then sent to Russia. According to prosecutors, the file available to investigators includes more than 900 items purchased for an authorized Russian with whom Americans are prohibited from doing business.

Anastasia, the prosecutor's office believes, spent approximately $220 thousand on purchasing antiques and works of art for Udodov. In August of this year, when the FBI raided the Simes couple’s estate, more than 140 items intended for Udodov were stored there and were awaiting shipment to Russia.