A Madison, Wisconsin, business owner has pled guilty to charges involving the illegal export of goods to Russia, violating the Export Control Reform Act, the Department of Justice reported. Andrew Pogosyan, 68, faces up to five years in prison for conspiracy and up to ten years for each count of smuggling, with sentencing set for October 7. As a U.S. citizen born in Russia, Pogosyan was found to have knowingly circumvented U.S. export controls put in place following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Court documents revealed that Pogosyan, through his company Omega Diagnostics LLC, exported scientific and diagnostic equipment components without the required licenses, using countries such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Latvia, and Lithuania as transshipment points to disguise their final destination to Russia starting in September 2022 and continuing until October 2023, which is to say for more than a year, without proper licensing, per the Department of Justice announcement. Regulations by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security were expanded in September 2022 to include items that could aid in the production of chemical and biological weapons, making Pogosyan's activities explicitly illegal under the new legislation.
The FBI, the BIS Office of Export Enforcement, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations led the inquiry into the case. According to the joint announcement by Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg, Acting U.S. Attorney Chadwick M. Elgersma for the Western District of Wisconsin, and Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division, Pogosyan conspired with Russian companies and individuals to bypass the embargo.
