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- 1 also wrote approximately 25 opinion articles that were published on RT's website, at least 19 of which Founder-1 billed to ANO TV-Novosti. None of Founder-1's articles disclosed that Founder-1 was paid by RT to write them.
- To create content for RT pursuant to Founder-1's written contract, Founder-1 worked with Founder-2 and two individual producers ("Producer-1" and "Producer-2"), who later joined U.S. Company-1. RT invited Founder-1 to appear on RT television programming, created a dedicated page on RT's website identifying Founder-1 as a "Contributor" and featuring Founder-1's articles, and provided an official letter on RT letterhead designating Founder-1 and Founder-2 as "essential workers" during the COVID-19 pandemic. In private correspondence, however, Founder-1 and Founder-2 recognized that truthfully disclosing their affiliation with RT made it more difficult for them to do business in the United States. For example, in a July 2021 email inviting a contact to apply for a job with RT, Founder-1 wrote that "RT's budget is gonna be larger" but acknowledged, "I know being Russian some folks in the US aren't too hot on them lol." As another example, in a private exchange on the messaging platform Discord in February 2022, Producer-1 told Founder-2 that "when I was asking people if they wanted to interview, many said yes until I said I was with RT so I switched to saying I was just working for [Founder-1]." Founder-2 replied: "Ha, not surprised."
- In their private correspondence, while working directly for RT pursuant to Founder-1's written contract, Founder-1 and Founder-2 regularly referred to their sponsor (i.e., RT) as the "Russians." For example, on or about May 12, 2021, Founder-2 messaged Founder-1 on Discord: "So we're billing the Russians from the corporation, right?" On or about May 22, 2021, Founder-1 messaged Founder-2 on Discord: "Also, the Russians paid. So we're good to bill them for the second month I guess." On or about June 2, 2021, Founder-1 messaged Founder-
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