Export Control and Sanctions News

Bence Horvath, 47, a dual citizen of Hungary and Spain who resided in the United Arab Emirates, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 31 months in prison in connection with conspiring to illegally export U.S.-origin radio communications technology to Russian end users without a license, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.

Latvian national, Oleg Chistyakov, aka Olegs Čitsjakovs, 56, pleaded guilty today for his role in a years-long conspiracy to circumvent U.S. export laws by filing false export forms with the U.S. government and, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, continuing to procure and sell sophisticated and controlled avionics equipment to customers in Russia without the required licenses from the U.S. Department of Commerce. 

BROOKLYN, NY – Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, an eight-count indictment was unsealed charging Maxim Larin for his involvement in a scheme to illegally export weapons parts and accessories from the United States to other countries, including Kazakhstan, which serve as transshipment points for materials destined for Russia.

An illegal alien from China was sentenced today to 96 months in federal prison for illegally exporting firearms, ammunition and other military items to North Korea by concealing them inside shipping containers that departed from the Port of Long Beach, and for committing this crime at the direction of North Korean government officials, who wired him approximately $2 million for his efforts.

BROOKLYN, NY – Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, dual U.S. and Russian national Vadim Yermolenko was sentenced by United States District Judge Hector Gonzalez to 30 months in prison for his role in an illicit procurement and money laundering network that sought to acquire ammunition and sensitive dual-use electronics for Russian military and intelligence services. 

The CEO of a Latin music conglomerate was sentenced today to 48 months in federal prison for conspiring to violate the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act by conducting business with a Guadalajara-based concert promoter with ties to Mexican drug cartels.

Two Chinese nationals – one of them an illegal alien – have been arrested on a federal criminal complaint alleging they knowingly exported to China tens of millions of dollars’ worth of sensitive microchips used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications, the Justice Department announced today.

Two Chinese nationals – one of them an illegal alien – have been arrested on a federal criminal complaint alleging they knowingly exported to China tens of millions of dollars’ worth of sensitive microchips used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications.

Andrew Pogosyan, 68, a U.S. citizen born in Russia and residing in Madison, pleaded guilty today in federal court to a four-count criminal information charging him with conspiracy to defraud the United States and smuggling goods from the United States.

The Counterintelligence and Export Control Section (CES) of the Justice Department’s National Security Division (NSD), and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California (NDCA) today announced that Cadence Design Systems Inc. (Cadence), a multinational electronic design automation (EDA) technology company headquartered in San Jose, California, has agreed to plead guilty to resolve charges that Cadence committed criminal violations of export controls by selling EDA hardware, software, and semiconductor design intellectual property (IP) technology to the National University

A Santa Clara County man and former engineer at a Southern California company pleaded guilty today to stealing trade secret technologies developed for use by the United States government to detect nuclear missile launches, track ballistic and hypersonic missiles, and to allow U.S. fighter planes to detect and evade heat-seeking missiles.