Georgia Company and Owner Sentenced for Conspiracy to Evade Export Controls on Russia
Dali Bagrou, of Alpharetta, Georgia, and owner of World Mining and Oil Supply, was sentenced to 51 months in prison accompanied by three years of supervised release for his role in a scheme to evade U.S. national security laws, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Georgia said. World Mining was sentenced to five years' probation.
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In 2016 co-defendant Oleg Nikitin of St. Petersburg, Russia, agreed to work with an unnamed Russian government-controlled business to procure a power turbine from a U.S. manufacturer. The turbine was to be used on a Russian Arctic deep-water drilling platform for around $17.3 million, the attorney's office said. Such use would violate the Russian Industry Sector Sanctions, so its export would require a Commerce Department license. Nikitin, who was sentenced in October (see 2109300039), admitted to conspiring with another co-defendant, Gabrielle Villone of Torino, Italy, to obtain the turbine. The pair then employed Bagrou and World Mining to obtain the turbine from a U.S.-based manufacturer and then ship it overseas.
The parties conspired to submit false information to the U.S. government on the turbine's end-use and Nikitin, Villone and Bagrou were arrested in 2019 while attempting to complete the transaction, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Villone was sentenced to prison in June 2020. “Dali Bagrou knowingly conspired to illegally provide the Russian government with U.S. origin industrial equipment in violation of Russia Sectoral Sanctions,” said Ariel Leinwand, special agent in charge of the Bureau of Industry and Security Office of Export Enforcement. “BIS and our partner agencies are committed to stopping those that seek to circumvent U.S. export control laws. This significant sentence not only holds Bagrou accountable for his illicit efforts but acts as a deterrent to those who would violate U.S. exports laws and act contrary to the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States.”