US Charges Latvian Man With Illegally Exporting Avionics Equipment to Russia
Latvian citizen Oleg Chistyakov was charged with violating U.S. export laws as part of a scheme to ship "sophisticated avionics equipment" to Russian companies, DOJ announced last week. The agency noted Chistyakov is the third person to be charged in connection to the scheme, which was led by Kansas company KanRus Trading Co.
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KanRus Trading owner Cyril Buyanovsky pleaded guilty to export control violations in December, agreeing to forfeit over $450,000 worth of avionics equipment along with a $50,000 personal forfeiture (see 2312200024).
DOJ alleged that Chistyakov worked with Buyanovsky and Douglas Robertson, both of Kansas, to "facilitate the sale, repair and shipment of U.S. avionics equipment to customers in Russia and in other countries that operate Russian-built aircraft, including the Federal Security Service of Russia." Chistyakov was arrested earlier this month near Riga, Latvia, and awaits extradition proceedings, DOJ said.
Chistyakov allegedly worked with the two men to ship the avionics equipment to Russian companies following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and subsequent U.S. sanctions. He worked as a broker for KanRus by "soliciting quotes, negotiating prices and terms of delivery, and facilitating payments" between the Kansas firm and Russian buyers, DOJ alleged.
They hid the payments by creating false invoices and transshipping goods through third-party countries, and exported goods to intermediary firms "which then reexported the items to the ultimate end destinations." They also used bank accounts in the United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan to conceal the scheme.
DOJ said the Commerce Department added "many of the entities and individuals" involved in the scheme to the Entity List in December (see 2312050046).
Chistyakov is charged with one count of conspiracy, two counts of violation of the Export Control Reform Act, various smuggling counts, conspiracy to commit international money laundering and two counts of money laundering. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for conspiracy, 20 years for each ECRA count, 10 years for each smuggling count and 20 years for each money laundering count.