Three men, Nikolay Grigorev, Nikita Arkhipov and Artem Oloviannikov, have been hit with conspiracy and charges related to an export control scheme to benefit the Russian military. Grigorev, a Brooklyn resident, was arrested on November 1, 2023. Arkhipov and Oloviannikov remain at large.
As alleged in the indictment, the defendants utilized a Brooklyn-based corporation, Quality Life Cue LLC (QLC), to facilitate the export control scheme. QLC was registered and controlled by Grigorev and Oloviannikov, with Arkhipov utilizing a QLC email account from Russia. Through QLC, the defendants procured dual-use electronic components for entities in Russia involved in the development and manufacture of drones for the Russian war effort in Ukraine.
“These defendants conducted a sophisticated scheme, violating American sanctions in order to fuel Russia’s war effort,” said Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. “In Brooklyn and around the world, our Office will not rest in making sure that military technologies do not fall into the wrong hands.”
Between October 22, 2021 and February 22, 2022, QLC accounts controlled by Grigorev received wire transactions from SMT-iLogic, a Russia-based technology company, totaling approximately $272,830.40. SMT-iLogic is on Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Person List and is known to be involved in the supply chain for producing Russian military UAVs used in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
These funds were used almost entirely to make payments to a Brooklyn-based electronics distributor or pay Grigorev’s credit cards, which he used to buy goods from the Brooklyn company.
Email and chat communications among the defendants explicitly reference efforts to circumvent U.S. sanctions, use “test” or “fictitious” orders to test new supply lines to Russia, and discuss front companies in third countries.
In June 2023, a court-authorized search warrant of Grigorev’s residence in Brooklyn successfully interdicted over 11,500 electronic components that were awaiting unlawful export to Russia.
“The Office of Export Enforcement is focused on rooting out the illicit procurement networks that supply Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine," said Jonathan Carson, Special Agent in Charge, Office of Export Enforcement, New York Field Office, Bureau of Industry and Security, US Department of Commerce.
"We will continue to collaborate with our law enforcement partners and leverage our unique authorities to prosecute these violators responsible, as alleged in the indictment, for undermining the extensive sanctions put in place to stem the flow of war materials to Russia’s military
