Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova is a Russian accountant based in Saint Petersburg who was charged in September 2018 with conspiracy to defraud the United States by interfering in the 2016 and 2018 U.S. elections. She is accused of managing the finances of "Project Lakhta", a $35 million social media operation that used fake Twitter, Facebook and other profiles to spread misinformation and discord. The crimes are alleged to have occurred from 2014 to 2018. Khusyaynova reacted to the indictment with irony about the ability of "a simple Russian woman" to "help the citizens of a superpower to elect their president".