On Thursday, the former Fox News producer was charged with violating US sanctions because he worked for a Russian oligarch who is accused of being a leading financial backer of separatists in Crimea and eastern Ukraine and having close ties to President Vladimir Putin.
Producer John Hanick was arrested in London last month and charged in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, in what federal prosecutors say was the first such charge stemming from sanctions imposed by Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.
Konstantin Malofeev, the oligarch who hired Mr Hanik, according to the indictment, was named by the Treasury Department as “one of the main sources of funding for Russians promoting separatism in Crimea” after sanctions were imposed in December 2014. Khanik worked for Mr. Malofeev from 2013 to 2017, the indictment says.
The case against Mr Hanick, a 71-year-old US citizen, has been announced as the United States and much of the rest of the world continue to financially punish Russia amid broader efforts to end its war with Ukraine. On Wednesday, the Justice Department announced the creation of a new task force to “bring to justice the corrupt Russian oligarchs” who supported the invasion.
While the charges against Mr. Khanik stem from eight-year-old sanctions, they are consistent with other steps taken by the United States and its allies recently and indicate that the federal authorities will use all available leverage to pressure Mr. Putin. and his environment.
Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, emphasized this point in a statement.
The allegations, he said, demonstrated “a commitment to enforcing laws designed to thwart those who use their wealth to undermine fundamental democratic processes.”
Mr. Hanik, who worked at Fox News from the beginning and worked for the network for 15 years before leaving in 2011, is charged with one count of violating sanctions and another count of lying to FBI agents who took from him interview last year.
Mr Hanik’s lawyers could not be contacted for comment. A spokesperson for Fox News declined to comment.
Mr. Malofeev, a banker and devoted follower of the Russian Orthodox faith, is one of Russia’s most powerful tycoons and one of the most prominent conservatives in the country’s pro-Kremlin elite. (In the indictment, his last name is indicated as Malofeev).
Updated
March 3, 2022 8:34 pm ET
He is a bastion of support for Mr. Putin among the Russian right, has links to far-right politicians in the US and Europe, and, in addition to his activities in Crimea, is accused of funding separatists in eastern Ukraine. He denied the accusations.
He was also a major figure in efforts to increase Russian influence in Africa while reducing the influence of Western countries.
According to the indictment, Mr. Khanik’s work for Mr. Malofeev included media development in Russia, Greece, Bulgaria, and other countries. He moved to Russia in July 2013 after negotiating an employment contract “directly with Malofeev,” which included wages, a $5,000 monthly housing allowance and health insurance, the indictment says.
Initially, Mr. Khanik worked mainly on a project to establish a Russian cable television news network, which went on the air in April 2015, the government said. By that time, Mr. Malofeev had come under US sanctions, as well as similar European measures.
The indictment alleges that Mr. Khanik played a leadership role at the network and was described in emails as chairman of the board, general producer and general advisor.
Russian-Ukrainian war: what you need to know
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Falling Ukrainian city. Russian troops took control of Kherson, the first city captured during the war. The capture of Kherson is significant because it allows the Russians to control most of the southern coast of Ukraine and move west towards Odessa.
The indictment cites Mr. Khanik’s January 2015 email to Mr. Malofeev, in which Mr. Khanik wrote that the network’s draft policy statement was “to realize your vision.”
“You are the founder and chief architect of the project,” Mr. Khanik’s email reads, according to the indictment. “We, as members of the board, are responsible for ensuring that employees follow your instructions.”
Mr Hanik moved to Greece in May 2015 to develop a Greek television network that would “collaborate with a Russian TV company,” the indictment says. According to the indictment, Mr Khanik later wrote to Mr Malofeev that the network would be “an opportunity to detail Russia’s point of view on Greek television.”
He also worked on behalf of Mr. Malofeev in 2015 to acquire a Bulgarian TV company, traveled to the country and took steps to cover up the oligarch’s role, the indictment says.
According to the indictment, in an interview with FBI agents in February 2021, Mr. Khanik admitted that he had learned that Mr. Malofeev was subject to U.S. sanctions within months of their announcement. But he lied, saying he did not know of any connection Mr. Malofeev had to the Bulgarian network until he read about it in the media, the indictment says.
Mr. Malofeev has long been a vocal advocate for a return to monarchy in Russia. He told The Guardian in 2017 that he fell in love with the idea after falling in love with The Lord of the Rings as a teenager, which ends with the hero’s ascension to the throne. His dissertation at the Faculty of Law was devoted to the legal ways of restoring Russian royal power.
In an interview with The New York Times in his ornate office on Moscow’s Garden Ring in March 2020, he said that the “quasi-monarchy” that Russia had “essentially” become under Putin was “a very good thing.”
“If we now began to call him emperor, and not president, then we would not have to change the Constitution much,” he added.
Michael M. Greenbaum contributed reporting. Sheila McNeil contributed to the study.