Businessman Pleads Guilty to Russia-Related Export Control Evasion Scheme

Douglas Robertson, former vice president of KanRus Trading Co., pleaded guilty on July 2 to conspiring to violate U.S. export laws by shipping "sophisticated and controlled avionics equipment to customers in Russia," DOJ announced.

Robertson of Olathe, Kansas, admitted to a "years-long conspiracy to circumvent U.S. export laws," DOJ said. He also worked with fellow Kansas resident KanRus Trading owner Cyril Buyanovsky of Lawrence and Oleg Chistyakov of Riga, Latvia, DOJ said. Buyanovsky pleaded guilty to export control violations in December, and Chistyakov was charged with export control violations earlier this year (see 2403290029) and 2312200024).

Between 2020 and March 2023, Robertson admitted to working with the co-defendants to smuggle avionics equipment to Russian end users in Russia and other foreign nations by "knowingly filing false export forms and failing to file required export forms with the U.S. government," DOJ said. Robertson provided false information on the value of the goods, end users and end destinations.

Robertson also admitted to "lying to U.S. suppliers" about the end users and to shipping the goods through companies in Armenia, Laos, the United Arab Emirates and Cyprus. He also used false export forms and foreign bank accounts in Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Cyprus, the UAE and the Czech Republic to hide the shipments, DOJ said.

On at least one occasion, Robertson admitted to smuggling a "repaired Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System" to Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) by stripping the FSB sticker from the device before sending it to a U.S. company for repairs and reexport, DOJ said.