A US court accuses a Latvian citizen of selling avionics equipment to Russian companies

According to court documents, after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and despite additional US economic countermeasures against Russia, Chistyakov and his associates continued to smuggle and export sophisticated avionics equipment to companies in Russia without the necessary US Commerce Department licenses.

Chistyakov, operating from Latvia, cooperated with Bujanovski and Robertson through their US company KanRus Trading Company Inc. (“KanRus”) to circumvent US export laws by purchasing avionics equipment from US companies for customers in Russia. Chistyakov allegedly acted as an intermediary for “KanRus”, requesting offers, negotiating prices and delivery conditions and facilitating payments between “KanRus” and customers in Russia.

Chistyakov and co-conspirators concealed their illegal activities, including preparing false invoices, transferring goods through third countries such as Germany and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), using bank accounts in third countries such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and the UAE, and exporting goods to intermediary companies, which then re-exported the goods to the final destinations.

Chistyakov is charged with one count of conspiracy, two counts of violating the Export Control Reform Act, multiple counts of smuggling goods from the United States, conspiracy to commit international money laundering, and two counts of international money laundering. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison for conspiracy, 20 years in prison for each export control charge, 10 years in prison for each smuggling charge and 20 years in prison for each money laundering charge.

The case is being investigated by the FBI and the Department of Commerce’s Office of Export Assurance. Procedural actions were carried out in close cooperation with the Latvian State Security Service and with the help of the Prosecutor General’s Office.