Related Federal Cases
Russian Smuggler Sentenced to 18 Months for Night Vision Scheme
WILMINGTON, Del. – Dmitry Ustinov, 53, a Russian national, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison and 3 years supervised release for conspiracy to export high-tech military technology to Russia. The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Court yesterday afternoon.
Ustinov was arrested on April 15, 2013, in Vilnius, Lithuania, at the request of the U.S. Government. He was extradited to the United States on August 23, 2013, and pleaded guilty to the conspiracy offense on July 10, 2013.
According to court documents, Ustinov caused or attempted to cause the export of approximately seventeen different night vision devices and thermal imaging scopes between July 2010 and April 2013. The defense articles at issue, including Insight Mini Thermal Monoculars, D-740 night vision scopes, and Flir Tau 640 thermal imaging cameras, are primarily used as weapons’ mounted or helmet mounted night vision devices.
Ustinov’s scheme was designed to avoid detection by law enforcement at each step in the process. He worked closely with a United States-based straw purchaser to conceal his involvement at the point of sale and wired money to the straw purchaser to buy the defense article from front companies located in off-shore accounts in Cyprus.
The defense articles were falsely labeled to avoid detection by customs officials. Ustinov also discussed using less traditional methods to obtain and export these night vision devices outside the United States, including establishing a phony front company in the United States and placing these high-tech devices inside chopped up car parts to conceal them from customs officials.
“No matter the distance we must travel or the nationality of the defendant, those individuals that want to profit themselves by unlawfully obtaining and exporting items designated by the United States as defense articles will be prosecuted,” said U.S. Attorney Charles M. Oberly III.
Ustinov will be deported from the United States upon his release from federal prison. The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jamie M. McCall and Trial Attorney Mariclaire Rourke of the Counterespionage Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware.
RELATED: Microelectronics Smuggler Posobilov Sentenced to 135 Months for Treasonous Sales
Key Facts
- State: Delaware
- Category: Weapons
- Source: DOJ Press Release ↗
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