Treasury sanctions Russian national, companies for transferring US-based military technology to Russia

The Treasury Department sanctioned a Russian national and two of his companies on Wednesday for allegedly transferring sensitive U.S.-based military technology to Russia.

Yury Yuryevich Orekhov, and his companies Nord-Deutsche Industrieanlagenbau GmbH (NDA GmbH) and Opus Energy Trading LLC, were sanctioned on Wednesday over a scheme that allegedly obtained advanced semiconductor and microprocessor technology from the U.S. and transferred it to Russian entities, including sanctioned companies.

The technology — which can be used in fighter aircraft, ballistic and hypersonic missile systems, smart munitions, radar and satellites — has been found in Russian weapons used in the war in Ukraine.

Orekhov also faces charges from the U.S. attorney’s office in the Eastern District of New York for his role in the scheme, alongside six other individuals. He was arrested in Germany on Monday.

The U.S. attorney’s office accused Orekhov and co-owner Artem Uss of using their company NDA GmbH as a front to purchase and send the sensitive military technology to Russia. Orekhov and Uss allegedly also used the company to smuggle hundreds of millions of barrels of oil from Venezuela to purchasers in Russia and China, including sanctioned Russian oligarchs.

Uss, the son of a regional governor in Russia, was arrested in Italy on Monday. Three other Russian nationals and two Venezuelan nationals were also charged in relation to the scheme.

“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, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement.

“We will continue to investigate, disrupt and prosecute those who fuel Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine, evade sanctions and perpetuate the shadowy economy of transnational money laundering,” he added.