ST. LOUIS — A federal indictment claims three activists behind a St. Louis Black empowerment group took part in a yearslong Russian "agitation and propaganda" campaign to sow dissent in the United States.
The Florida grand jury indictment unsealed Tuesday alleges that Russian intelligence officers directed funds and instructions to the African People's Socialist Party, a nationwide activist group that's organized protests, carried out community projects and supported two candidates for the Board of Aldermen in St. Louis. The group's 81-year-old founder Omali Yeshitela founded the organization in St. Petersburg, Florida, before expanding to St. Louis in 2017, drawn to the city by the Ferguson protests.
The indictment charges Yeshitela and two other organizers active in St. Louis, Penny J. Hess and Jesse Nevel, with conspiracy to defraud the United States and impersonating agents of foreign governments. They're accused of posting Russian propaganda on the organization's website, taking Russian funds and agreeing to a Russian directive to pen a letter to the United Nations complaining of a "genocide of African people" in the U.S.
