Page:Internet research agency indictment.pdf/24

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58. In order to avoid detection and impede investigation by US. authorities of Defendants’

operations, Defendants and their co-conspirators deleted and destroyed data, including emails,

social media accounts, and other evidence of their activities.

a.

Beginning in or around June 2014, and continuing into June 2015, public reporting began to identify operations conducted by the ORGANIZATION in the United States. In response, Defendants and their co-conspirators deleted email accounts used to conduct their operations.

Beginning in or around September 2017, US social media companies, starting with Facebook, publicly reported that they had identiﬁed Russian expenditures on their platforms to fund political and social advertisements. Facebook’s initial disclosure of the Russian purchases occurred on or about September 6, 2017, and included a statement that Facebook had “shared [its] ﬁndings with US authorities investigating these issues.”

Media reporting on or about the same day as Faoebook’s disclosure referred to Facebook working with investigators for the Special Counsel’s Oﬂice of the US. Department of Justice, which had been charged with investigating the Russian government’s eﬁ‘orts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

Defendants and their co-conspirators thereafter destroyed evidence for the purpose of impeding the investigation. On or about September 13, 2017, KAVERZINA wrote in an email to a family member: “We had a slight crisis here at work: the FBI busted our activity (not a joke). So, I got preoccupied with covering tracks together with the colleagues.” KAVERZINA further wrote, “I created all these

pictures and posts, and the Americans believed that it was written by their people.”

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