US Charges President of Raw Materials Company With Evading Russia Sanctions

John Unsalan, the president of building materials supplier Metalhouse, was arrested and charged with violating U.S. sanctions on oligarch Sergey Kurchenko and two of Kurchenko's companies by providing them with over $150 million for steel-making materials, DOJ announced April 17. Unsalan faces 10 counts of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, one count of conspiring to evade U.S. sanctions, one count of conspiring to commit international money laundering and 10 counts of international money laundering, each of which comes with a maximum 10-year prison sentence.

From 2018 to 2021, Unsalan used Metalhouse to transfer over $150 million to Kurchenko, who was sanctioned in 2015 for misappropriating Ukrainian state assets. Kurchenko's companies, Kompaniya Gaz-Alyans and ZAO Vneshtorgservis, were listed in 2018 for providing support to the governments in the separatist-controlled regions in eastern Ukraine.

Unsalan's arrest “should serve as a warning to those who seek to do business with sanctioned individuals or entities that endanger the security of the United States and our allies,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said. “The Justice Department is relentlessly pursuing those whose seek to evade sanctions imposed against the Russian regime and whose crimes enable the regime to continue its unjust, illegal war in Ukraine.” The indictment stemmed from the work of Task Force KleptoCapture, the interagency group charged with enforcing U.S. sanctions on Russia.