Valery Kosmachov is charged with facilitating illegal U.S. exports to Russia; Australian company manager David Levik will spend two years in jail for illegal exports to Iran.
A federal grand jury of a Northern California district court this week released a 52-count indictment charging Russian national Valery Kosmachov for devising a scheme to smuggle U.S.-made electronic components to Russia.
Sixty-six-year-old Kosmachov, who resided in Estonia, was owner of Adimir OU and co-owner of Eastline Technology OU with fellow Russian national Sergey Vetrov, also 66. In Sept. 21, 2017, the two began using the companies as fronts to receive programmable computer chips, which had “dual use” or civilian and military applications, in Estonia and then smuggle the components into Russia, a violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), with money laundered back to a bank account.
Kosmachov was arrested in Tallinn, Estonia, on Sept. 12, 2018, and was extradited to the U.S. on March 14 to face prosecution. Vetrov remains at large.
If convicted, Kosmachov could face a maximum 20 years in jail for each IEEPA and money laundering-related count and a maximum 10-year sentence for each count of smuggling. Additional periods of supervised release, fine, and special assessments also could be imposed, the Justice Department said.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, Australian national and general manager of ICM Components, David Russell Levick, 57, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to two years in jail for four counts of violating IEEPA. He was accused of illegally facilitating $199,227 in exports of U.S.-made sensors for landing helicopters and fixed-wing planes to Iran between 2007 and 2008 without obtaining the proper Treasury Department licenses. Australia extradited Levick to the U.S. to face charges in December.
According to the Justice Department, Levick “intentionally concealed the ultimate end use and end users of the parts from manufacturers, distributors, shippers and freight forwarders located in the United States and elsewhere. In addition, Levick and others structured their payments between each other for the parts to avoid trade restrictions imposed on Iranian financial institutions by other countries.”
The department also noted that Levick and ICM “wired money to companies located in the United States as payment for the parts.”
