Two Russian nationals were arrested in a scheme to obtain sensitive U.S. military electronics and technology to provide it to the Russian defense sector, prosecutors said Wednesday, noting that some of the items were found on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Yury Orekhov and Artem Uss are accused of using false documents and a front company to purchase electronics like advanced semiconductors and microprocessors used in fighter aircraft, missile systems and smart munitions.
The men sent the items to sanctioned Russian companies that serve the defense sector, according to federal prosecutors.
“Some of the same electronic components obtained through the criminal scheme have been found in Russian weapons platforms seized on the battlefield in Ukraine,” prosecutors said.
The operation was part of a broader scheme that involved smuggling oil from Venezuela to companies in Russia and China — and millions of dollars in cryptocurrency transfers to launder the proceeds of the criminal enterprise, according to a 12-count indictment that charged a total of seven people.
"This network schemed to procure sophisticated technology in direct support of a floundering Russian Federation military industrial complex," Assistant FBI Director Michael Driscoll said in a statement.
The indictment says Orekhov admitted in electronic communications that he was acting on behalf of a sanctioned Russian oligarch when he facilitated the sale of smuggled oil from Venezuela.
A senior U.S. law enforcement official identified the oligarch as Oleg Deripaska, who was indicted last month on U.S. sanctions violations unrelated to the case announced Wednesday.
A lawyer for Deripaska did not respond to a request for comment.
Orekhov, who is 42 and lives in the United Arab Emirates, was arrested in Germany on Monday. Uss, who is 40 and lives in Moscow, was arrested in Italy the same day.
Both men will undergo extradition proceedings, prosecutors said. It was not immediately clear whether they had hired lawyers.
The Justice Department also charged three other Russians in connection with the scheme: Svetlana Kuzurgasheva, 32, also known as Lana Neumann; Timofey Telegin, 39; and Sergey Tulyakov, 52.
Two other men were charged in connection with the allegedly illicit oil deals: Juan Fernando Serrano Ponce, who is 47 and lives in Dubai, and Juan Carlos Soto, whose age and hometown were not provided by U.S. authorities.
Ponce and Soto are accused of brokering oil deals worth millions of dollars involving a front company operated by Orekhov and Uss and purchasers in Russia and China. The deals were routed through a complex web of shell companies and bank accounts to disguise the transactions, prosecutors said.
Ponce and Soto are not accused of being involved in the weapons scheme.
When Orekhov and Kuzurgasheva sought to buy the sensitive U.S. military and "dual-use technology," they falsely claimed it was going to the Russian space agency Roscosmos.
Prosecutors described their approach as “a common method of sanctions evasion used by Russian actors to obtain sensitive technologies, as the space program was subject to less stringent oversight and regulation by the United States.”
The indictment alleges that Orekhov and Uss discussed sanctions the U.S. imposed after Russian's invasion of Ukraine — and joked about their criminal exposure.
"Have you decided to leave Russia?" Orekhov asked Uss in an electronic message dated March 30, the indictment says.
"[Y]ou want to be an international fugitive? It's too much," Uss replied sarcastically.
"[A]nd you? Would you like to? I can arrange, very easy," Orekhov wrote back, according to the indictment.
In an exchange with Soto, Orekhov used colorful language to allay his concerns about dealing with Russian companies.
There were "no worries, no issues," Orekhov wrote, the indictment says. "This is the s-----t bank in the Emirates...They pay to everything."
