US Indicts 5 Russian Nationals, 2 Oil Traders for Evading US Sanctions

Five Russian nationals and two oil traders were charged in a 12-count indictment unsealed Oct. 19 for their role in a global procurement, smuggling and money laundering network, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York announced. The Russian nationals are Yury Orekhov, Artem Uss, Svetlana Kuzurgasheva, Timofey Telegin and Sergey Tulyakov. The oil traders are Juan Fernando Serrano Ponce and Juan Carlos Soto. The oil traders allegedly brokered illegal oil deals for a Venezuelan state-owned oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela, as part of the scheme.

Orekhov served as CEO, part owner and managing director of German industrial equipment and commodity trading company Nord-Deutsche Industrieanlagenbau (NDA). Uss was the company's other owner. Kuzurgasheva worked as the CEO of one of the scheme's shell companies while also working for NDA under Orekhov, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Orekhov and Kuzurgasheva allegedly bought sensitive military and dual-use technologies from U.S. manufacturers using NDA as a front. The purchased products included advanced semiconductors and microprocessors used in fighter aircraft, missile systems, smart munitions, radar, satellites and other space-related military applications.

The goods were shipped to Russian entities, including sanctioned companies such as Radioavtomatika, Radioexport and Abtronics, controlled by Telegin and Tulyakov. Some of the shipped goods have been found among Russian weapons platforms in Ukraine, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Orekhov and Uss allegedly used the German company to smuggle hundreds of millions of barrels of oil from Venezuela to Russian and Chinese buyers, including a Russian company controlled by a sanctioned Russian oligarch. Serrano Ponce and Soto allegedly brokered the deals. Payment for the NDA's illegal activities was hidden in the U.S. financial system, causing American banks to process payments in violation of sanctions laws, the U.S. Attorney's Office alleged.

The indictment stems from the work of Task Force KleptoCapture -- an interagency group tasked with enforcing U.S. sanctions laws. The defendants each face a maximum of 30 years in prison.