An Israeli freight forwarder has admitted to conspiracy charges related to smuggling aircraft parts and avionics into Russia, violating U.S. export restrictions. According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, Gal Haimovich, 49, pled guilty to charges stemming from his attempts to deceive U.S. companies about the destinations of goods bound for sanctioned Russian airlines.
Haimovich operated an international freight forwarding company with business ties in the U.S. and Israel. Court documents reveal between March 2022 and May 2023, he facilitated shipments of high-tech components, some with missile technology applications, using third-party transhippers to get the shipments into Russia. The scheme ramped up following the U.S. imposition of additional export restrictions in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Haimovich and others falsified information in export documents submitted to the U.S. government, misleading supply chain partners about the ultimate destination of the parts.
Particular shipments included over 160 deliveries to the Maldives and the United Arab Emirates, which were then rerouted to Russia. In one case, an air data module ordered by Siberia Airlines was routed under the guise that it was going to the Maldives, when its actual destination was Russia. Siberia Airlines, which does business as S7 Airlines, was among Haimovich's billable Russian contacts, for which he charged over $2 million to smuggle aircraft parts out of the U.S.
As part of his plea deal, Haimovich agreed to a forfeiture money judgment of over $2 million and will forfeit various aircraft parts and components. The verdict brings to light the effectiveness of Task Force KleptoCapture, an initiative intending to enforce the sanctions and export controls imposed by the U.S. and its allies following the Ukrainian invasion. This task force, announced in March 2022, demonstrates the U.S. government's commitment to preventing the erosion of these economic countermeasures.
Investigations conducted by the Department of Commerce’s Office of Export Enforcement and the FBI culminated in Haimovich's guilty plea. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Browne for the Southern District of Florida and Trial Attorney Christopher M. Rigali of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section. Haimovich's sentencing hearing is scheduled for November 22.
