Wisconsin Business Owner Pleads Guilty to Violating Export Control Reform Act

MADISON, WIS. – Chadwick M. Elgersma, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Andrew Pogosyan, 68, of Madison, Wisconsin, pleaded guilty today in federal court in Madison to a four-count criminal information charging conspiracy to defraud the United States and smuggling goods from the United States. U.S. District Judge William M. Conley accepted the guilty plea and scheduled sentencing for October 7, 2025. Pogosyan is U.S. Citizen born in Russia.

“Today’s plea is the culmination of the outstanding work by our law enforcement partners,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Elgersma. “As part of our on-going commitment to protecting national security, this office will hold accountable those who violate export control laws.”

“Mr. Pogosyan threatened the national security of the United States by violating sanctions and illegally exporting scientific laboratory equipment to companies in Russia,” said FBI Milwaukee Special Agent in Charge Michael Hensle. “The FBI continues to tirelessly work with our law enforcement partners to investigate anyone who helps foreign adversaries evade sanctions. Pogosyan’s actions undermined the protections put in place to ensure U.S. national security.”

The U.S. government regulates the export of goods, technology, and software from the United States. On February 24, 2022, the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security implemented specific export control regulations in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. These regulations prohibit the export of certain items from the United States to Russia without a license from the Bureau of Industry and Security. The regulations were expanded on September 16, 2022, to include a licensing requirement for items potentially useful to Russia’s chemical and biological weapons production capabilities. Under the Export Control Reform Act, it is a federal crime to willfully violate any export control regulation.

According to court filings and statements made during the plea hearing, beginning around September 2022 and continuing until October 2023, Pogosyan through his company, Omega Diagnostics, LLC, willfully violated and evaded the export restrictions imposed on Russia by exporting scientific and diagnostic research equipment components to Russia without the required licenses, using transshipment points in third-party countries to conceal the ultimate destination. Specifically, Pogosyan conspired with Russian-based companies and individuals to export controlled items from the United States to Russia through third-party countries, including Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Latvia, and Lithuania. Pogosyan exported the controlled items without obtaining a license, despite knowing about the license requirement.

When sentenced, Pogosyan faces a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison for the conspiracy charge and a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for each of the smuggling violations.

The charges against Pogosyan were the result of an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry & Security, Office of Export Enforcement; and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations. Acting U.S. Attorney Elgersma and Trial Attorney Christopher Cook of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section prosecuted this case.