A dual U.S.-Russian citizen, Sergey Nechaev, aged 49, has been handed down a sentence of 41 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. This sentencing comes as a consequence of his attempt to illegally export aircraft to Russia, which would be in violation of the Export Control Reform Act (ECRA), among other laws. Arrested back in December 2024, Nechaev pleaded guilty in September 2025, acknowledging his involvement in a scheme to smuggle controlled goods without a license.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the alleged offenses took place between September 2022 and March 2023. During this period, Nechaev attempted to export a 1968 Cessna 172K and a 1973 Cessna, with a combined value of approximately $170,000, to a purported Russian flight school. Strict controls had been imposed on Russia by the U.S. government in February 2022, yet Nechaev proceeded without the required Department of Commerce authorization. "Export control laws exist to protect our national security and prevent sensitive items from falling into the wrong hands," U.S. Attorney Margaret E. Heap stated in the case, emphasizing the gravity of such legal breaches.
Deceptively, Nechaev falsely claimed that Armenia was the destination of the aircraft instead of Russia to obscure the true end user. Initially, he had misinformed a U.S. based freight forwarder about the end user being a company in Türkiye but later changed his story when questions arose. The freight forwarder, expressing doubts, noted that "the only company with this name is in Moscow," to which Nechaev had to quickly concoct a corroborative narrative, affirming, "I am on the phone with them now . . . [C]ompany is registered in Armenia, definitely I agree with you 100% with that Moscow reference. is not good at all," as noted by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Further implicating himself, Nechaev coordinated with co-conspirators at a Russia-based shipping company for transporting the aircraft to Russia. He provided the contact details of Co-Conspirator 1 and instructed, "Please include [Co-Conspirator 1] in the correspondence," and "He will conclude the contract." These actions came to light through court documents, as reported by the U.S. Department of Justice. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Darron Hubbard and L. Alexander Hamner for the Southern District of Georgia, along with Trial Attorney Leslie Esbrook of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, with the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Homeland Security Investigations, and the Federal Aviation Administration also contributing to the case.
