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-Lurid Crime Tales-
US busts ring of Russians, Latvians and a Ukrainian attempting to smuggle US military tech to to Moscow arms makers - including device for building NUCLEAR weapons
2022-10-20
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • U.S. prosecutors have charged five Russian nationals for sanctions evasion

  • It includes the shipping of military technologies bought from US manufacturers to Russian buyers, some of which ended up used on the battlefield in Ukraine

  • Federal prosecutors said the electronic components purchased by Russian nationals included semiconductors, radars and satellites

  • The technologies can be used in fighter aircraft, ballistic and hypersonic missile systems, smart munitions, and other military applications

  • A German company was used to ship the military technologies, as well as Venezuelan oil, to Russian purchasers

  • The defendants used fake companies and submitted false information to U.S. banks, which processed tens of millions of dollars worth of transactions


Five Russians charged in global scheme to smuggle equipment from US for Russia's military

[FoxNews] The defendants also allegedly smuggled hundreds of millions of barrels of Venezuelan oil to Russia and China.

Five Russian nationals and two oil traders for Venezuela were charged this week in a wide-ranging scheme to obtain military equipment from the United States and smuggle Venezuelan oil to Russia and China, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday in federal court.

The defendants allegedly used Nord-Deutsche Industrieanlagenbau GmbH (NDA GmbH) as a front company to purchase advanced semiconductors and microprocessors that have been used in various Russian weapons, including fighter jets, missile systems and ammunition.

"As alleged, the defendants were criminal enablers for oligarchs, orchestrating a complex scheme to unlawfully obtain U.S. military technology and Venezuelan sanctioned oil through a myriad of transactions involving shell companies and cryptocurrency," Breon Peace, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Their efforts undermined security, economic stability and rule of law around the world."

One of the defendants, 42-year-old Yury Orekhov, the CEO of NDA GmbH, is accused of traveling to the U.S. in 2019 to source parts that can be used in Russian fighter jets.

Some of the electronics smuggled through the scheme have been found in Russian weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine, according to the indictment.

"This network schemed to procure sophisticated technology in direct support of a floundering Russian Federation military industrial complex," FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Michael J. Driscoll said in a statement.

The defendants also allegedly smuggled hundreds of millions of barrels of Venezuelan oil to purchasers in Russia and China.

Two oil traders, Juan Fernando Serrano Ponce and Juan Carlos Soto, brokered deals worth millions of dollars between Venezuelan state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. and NDA GmbH.

The defendants used a complex web of shell companies, falsified documents and cryptocurrencies to route the transactions through U.S. financial institutions, according to the indictment.
Posted by:Skidmark

#3  Thank you for pointing that out, Bobby. The second article is now stacked here, since it had no comments, making it easier for us all, and the original deleted.
Posted by: trailing wife   2022-10-20 19:46  

#2  Same topic, different sources.
Posted by: Skidmark   2022-10-20 13:33  

#1  This seems to be a dupe of the one below it. But I stole part of the photo caption for a chuckle:

"As I have said, our investigators and prosecutors will be relentless in their efforts to identify, locate, and bring to justice those whose illegal acts undermine the rule of law," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.


His law, right?
Posted by: Bobby   2022-10-20 11:50  

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