Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Putin’s chef’ among Russians indicted by Mueller

Putin's Chef

Misha Japaridze, Pool / AP

In this Friday, Nov. 11, 2011, file photo, Yevgeny Prigozhin, left, serves food to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin during dinner at Prigozhin’s restaurant outside Moscow, Russia

MOSCOW — One of the 13 Russians indicted for U.S. election interference is a wealthy Russian businessman with ties to Vladimir Putin.

Yevgeny Prigozhin is known in Russia as "Putin's chef." He once owned a hot dog stand and went on to become a wealthy businessman and restaurateur.

Prigozhin has been charged by the U.S. government as part of a vast and wide-ranging effort to sway political opinion during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

According to the indictment, Prigozhin and his companies provided significant funding to the Internet Research Agency, a St. Petersburg-based troll farm that allegedly used bogus social media postings and advertisements fraudulently purchased in the name of Americans to try to influence the White House race.