Russian National Sentenced to Prison for Illegal Exports of Aviation Tech
Russian national Oleg Patsulya was sentenced April 2 to nearly six years in prison for his role in a conspiracy to ship controlled aviation technology to Russia in violation of U.S. export laws and to launder money in connection with the scheme, DOJ announced.
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Patsulya pleaded guilty in April 2024 to conspiring to violate the Export Control Reform Act (see 2404050020). From around May 2022 to May 2023, Patsulya, along with his co-conspirator and fellow Russian national Vasilii Besedin, conspired with others to obtain orders for various aircraft parts from Russian buyers, namely commercial airlines, and then procure the parts from U.S. suppliers and send them to Russia. The pair both admitted to knowing the goods needed an export license.
Both Patsulya and Besedin also admitted to trying to conceal the exports by "making false representations about the identities of their true customers and using straw buyer-companies located overseas to obscure the origin of revenue," DOJ said in its prior press release.
In sentencing Patsulya to 70 months in prison, Judge Dominic Lanza of the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona noted the "seriousness of the offense," DOJ said, telling the defendant that it's "hard to imagine a bigger betrayal of the United States than what you did."