KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Latvian man was indicted and is accused of helping two Kansas City area men smuggle aviation technology to Russia, the United States Attorney’s Office — District of Kansas announced Thursday.
Oleg Chistyakov, 55, was arrested March 19 near Riga, Latvia, for the alleged crimes, prosecutors said.
Last March, Cyril Gregory Buyanovsky, of Lawrence, and Douglas Roberston, of Olathe, were also indicted and arrested in the conspiracy.
Chistyakov is accused of organizing the sales, repairs and shipments to customers in Russia and other countries that use Russian-built aircraft, including the Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB).
Buyanovsky and Roberston committed the crimes through KanRus Trading Company, a business the pair co-operated and owned.
The pair would file phony export reports in some cases and failed to file export forms all together in other cases while smuggling the technology.
After the Russian invasion on Ukraine in February 2022, the U.S. government imposed additional exporting policies on Russia.
Still, the pair continued exporting the technology to Russia despite the policies, according to the feds.
They attempted to cover up the crimes by lying to U.S. suppliers about who was receiving the equipment and exporting it through third-party countries.
Chistyakov, who operated from Latvia, is accused of acting as a broker for KanRus, soliciting quotes, negotiating prices and terms for delivery and facilitating payments between KanRus and customers in Russia.
He's charged with one count of conspiracy, two counts of violation of Export Control Reform Act, multiple counts of smuggling goods from the U.S., conspiracy to commit international money laundering and two counts of international money laundering.
Buyanovsky previously pleaded guilty to a money laundering and conspiracy charge in December.
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