GQ Solution Elektronik Ekipman Limited Sirketi, Sanctions Evasion, Florida 2023
Aircraft Landing Gear Worth $1.55 Million Seized Over Alleged Sanctions Evasion Scheme
The U.S. government has taken drastic measures to prevent the evasion of economic sanctions by filing a forfeiture complaint against a set of aircraft landing gear worth $1.55 million. The gear, which was detained in September 2023 at Miami International Airport by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, was allegedly purchased for the benefit of a Kyrgyz Republic-based transhipper of dual-use items servicing the Russian Federation, in direct violation of U.S. economic sanctions.
According to court documents, the landing gear was sold in June 2023 by a Florida-based aircraft parts overhauler and reseller for $1.55 million to an intermediary in Istanbul, GQ Solution Elektronik Ekipman Limited Sirketi. This transaction is at the center of the alleged sanctions evasion scheme.
Concurrent with today’s action, the State Department announced new sanctions against entities engaged in Russia’s technology sector, including GQ Solution Elektronik Ekipman Limited Sirketi in connection with the company’s supplying of electronic components to Russia-based companies.
At the heart of the investigation is the designation of LLC RM Design and Development (RMDD) as a Specially Designated National (SDN) by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in July 2023. RMDD was described as a “prolific shipper of dual-use goods to Russia, including to firms that have supplied electronics to Russia-based defense companies.”
Following RMDD’s designation as an SDN, the company sent an email to HML Aviation on July 25, 2023, asking them to “switch [the purchase] fully to our partners GQ Solution.” After this email, all mentions of RMDD were scrubbed from invoices for the landing gear, further solidifying the connection to GQ Solution Elektronik Ekipman Limited Sirketi.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Conor Mulroe and Rick Blaylock Jr. for the District of Columbia and Trial Attorney Sean Heiden of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are litigating the case. This case was coordinated through the Justice Department’s Task Force KleptoCapture, an interagency law enforcement task force dedicated to enforcing the sweeping sanctions, export controls, and economic countermeasures that the United States, along with its foreign allies and partners, has imposed in response to Russia’s unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine.
GQ Solution Elektronik Ekipman Limited Sirketi is the respondent in this forfeiture action, and the burden to prove forfeitability in a forfeiture proceeding is upon the government.
Key Facts
- State: Florida
- Category: White Collar Crime|Sanctions Evasion|Organized Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
ðŸâ€Â’ Get the grimiest stories delivered weekly. Subscribe free →