On Friday, special counsel Robert Mueller indicted 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies for meddling in the 2016 election.
According to The Daily Beast, the lead defendant is the “Internet Research Agency,” known as Russia’s “troll farm.” The Internet Research Agency has been “charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, and aggravated identity theft.”
“Some Defendants, posing as US persons and without revealing their Russian association, communicated with unwitting individuals associated with the Trump Campaign,” read the indictment.
The indictment also names front groups and events created by Russian nationals, including “United Muslims of America,” “Being Patriotic,” “Florida Goes Trump!“
The Internet Research Agency was allegedly registered with the Russian government as a corporate entity in 2013.
“By in or around May 2014, the organization’s strategy included interfering with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, with the stated goal of ‘spread[ing] distrust towards the candidates and the political system in general,'” the indictment said.
The alleged goal of the entities was to support now-President Trump‘s campaign and damage Democrat Hillary Clinton‘s.
“Defendants’ operations included supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump (‘Trump campaign’) and disparaging Hillary Clinton,” the indictment reads. “Defendants made various expenditures to carry out those activities, including buying political advertisements on social media in the names of U.S. persons and entities.”
The White House has issued no comment on the indictment as of now.