Russian National Sentenced for Conspiracy to Evade Export Controls

Oleg Nikitin, Russian national and owner of St. Petersburg-based energy company KS Engineering, was sentenced to federal prison for scheming to evade U.S. sanctions, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Georgia said. Nikitin was sentenced to 28 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the Export Control Reform Act and the Export Administration Regulations. Nikitin was also ordered to pay a $5,000 fine and is subject to deportation when his sentence ends. KSE, along with Italian company GVA International Oil and Gas Services, will serve five years' probation, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

In 2016, an unnamed Russian government-controlled business accepted Nikitin's bid to procure a power turbine from a U.S. manufacturer for use on a Russian Arctic deep-water drilling platform for around $17.3 million, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Such use of a turbine would violate the Russian Industry Sector Sanctions, so its export would require a Commerce Department license. Nikitin admitted conspiring with Gabrielle Villone to obtain the turbine. The pair then employed Dali Bagrou, the owner of a Dacula, Georgia-based company, World Mining and Oil Supply, to obtain the turbine from a U.S.-based manufacturer and then ship it overseas.

The parties conspired to submit false information to the U.S. government on the turbine's end use. Nikitin, Villone and Bagrou were arrested in 2019 while attempting to complete the transaction, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Villone was sentenced to prison in June 2020.