New York lawyer Robert Wise pleaded guilty to participating in a scheme to make around $3.8 million in payments to maintain six real properties in the U.S. owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg. Wise pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to commit international money laundering and faces a maximum of five years in prison, DOJ said April 25. He also forfeited more than $3.7 million and agreed "to be satisfied" by a $210,441 payment.
Sim Hyon Sop, a representative of a North Korean foreign trade bank, was charged in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in two federal indictments for his role in two different money laundering conspiracies meant to raise funds for North Korea via cryptocurrency, in violation of U.S. sanctions, DOJ announced. Sim allegedly conspired with over-the-counter cryptocurrency traders to "use stolen funds to buy goods for North Korea and for conspiring with North Korean IT workers to generate revenue through illegal employment at blockchain development companies" in the U.S., DOJ said.
DOJ will look to further crack down on Russian sanctions evasion by zeroing in on overseas investment advisers, hedge funds, law firms and private equity managers that have so far evaded scrutiny, Andrew Adams, head of DOJ's Task Force KleptoCapture, told Bloomberg. KleptoCapture is the interagency group charged with enforcing U.S. sanctions on Russia.
Rana Tanveer, a Beckley, West Virginia, resident, pleaded guilty April 20 to committing an export fraud violation by submitting false export valuations for certain items shipped to Pakistan, DOJ announced. Tanveer faces a maximum five-year prison sentence and a $250,000 fine.
Claudia Patricia Diaz Guillen, Venezuela's former national treasurer, and her husband, Adrian Jose Velasquez, each were sentenced to 15 years in prison for their roles in a bribery and money-laundering scheme in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, DOJ announced April 19. The duo accepted and laundered over $136 million in bribes from Venezuelan billionaire and Globovision news network owner Raul Gorrin Belisario in exchange for access to purchase bonds from the Venezuela National Treasury at a favorable exchange rate.
Sergey Karpushkin, a U.S. businessman and Belarussian national, was charged with participating in a scheme to violate U.S. sanctions on Russian oligarch Sergey Kurchenko and two of his related companies by buying over $150 million in steelmaking materials, DOJ announced April 19. The Belarussian is the second to be charged in the scheme after John Unsalan, president of building materials supplier Metalhouse, was hit with similar charges earlier this week (see 2304180033).
Two companies, one based in Taiwan and the other in Brunei, each must pay a fine of $83,769 and serve a five-year corporate probation term for conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions and export laws by shipping U.S.-made goods to Iran, DOJ announced. Taiwan-based DES International and Brunei-based Soltech Industry, charged in 2020 (see 2011120006), both pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the U.S. and violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and were sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act does not apply to criminal cases, the Supreme Court of the U.S. held in an April 17 opinion, opening Turkish state-owned Halkbank up to criminal prosecution for conspiring to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the author of the opinion, said the text of the FSIA, which the bank claimed protected it from prosecution, clearly shows it only addresses civil suits. Six of the court's justices sided with Kavanaugh, with Justices Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito dissenting (Turkiye Halk Bankasi A.S. v. U.S., Sup. Ct. # 21-1450).
The Bureau of Industry and Security again renewed the temporary denial order for Moscow-based air cargo carrier Aviastar. BIS first suspended the export privileges of the Russian cargo charter airline in April 2022 (see 2204210043) and renewed the order in October (see 2210190009), barring it from participating in transactions with items subject to the Export Administration Regulations. The agency renewed the denial order for another 180 days April 14 after finding Aviastar continued to illegally operate aircraft subject to the EAR, including for flights within Russia.
John Unsalan, the president of building materials supplier Metalhouse, was arrested and charged with violating U.S. sanctions on oligarch Sergey Kurchenko and two of Kurchenko's companies by providing them with over $150 million for steel-making materials, DOJ announced April 17. Unsalan faces 10 counts of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, one count of conspiring to evade U.S. sanctions, one count of conspiring to commit international money laundering and 10 counts of international money laundering, each of which comes with a maximum 10-year prison sentence.