U.S.-made components made their way to Russia without required State Department licenses.
A California couple pleaded guilty in a federal court on Tuesday to their role in an illicit scheme to export night vision and thermal device components to Russia.
Specifically, Naum Morgovsky, 69, and Irina Morgovsky, 66, of Hillsborough, Calif., violated the Arms Export Control Act.
According to their guilty pleas, which were heard in a district court in Northern California, the couple carried out the scheme through their company, Hitek International, from April 2012 to Aug. 25, 2016. A Russian buyer would provide them a list of parts needed to manufacture the night vision equipment.
The couple shipped the U.S.-made components to Russia, or a European country from where they would be hand-carried into Russia, without the required U.S. export licenses from the State Department.
Naum Morgovsky attempted to hide the scheme by laundering the payments into a U.S.-based bank account under the name of a deceased person.
According to the Justice Department, the Morgovskys worked with Mark Migdal, 72, of Portola Valley, Calif. On April 24, Migdal was sentenced to 18 months in jail and ordered to pay a $1 million fine and $460,215 in restitution and to serve three years of supervised release for his role in the export scheme.
A sentencing hearing for the Morgovskys’ guilty pleas is scheduled for Sept. 18. No date has been scheduled yet to resolve the remaining charges against Naum Morgovsky.
California pair guilty of illegal night vision exports
