Sergei Zharnovnikov, Conspiring to Export Firearms, New York 2023

International arms dealer Sergei Zharnovnikov, 47, of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, pleaded guilty to conspiring to export firearms to Russia in a federal court in Brooklyn, New York. The defendant, owner of an arms dealer located in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (Kyrgyzstan Company-1), exported firearms and ammunition worth over $1.5 million from the United States to Russia, in violation of U.S. law.

According to court filings and statements made during the plea proceeding, the defendant, together with others, conspired to export firearms controlled by the United States Department of Commerce (DOC) from the United States to Russia since at least March 2020. The defendant exported $1,582,836.52 worth of U.S.-manufactured firearms and ammunition from the United States to Russia.

In one transaction, he entered into a five-year, $900,000 contract with a company in the United States (U.S. Company-1) to purchase and export U.S. Company-1 firearms to Kyrgyzstan. DOC issued a license for U.S. Company-1 to export firearms to Kyrgyzstan Company-1, but the license prohibited the export or re-export of the firearms to Russia.

Nevertheless, the defendant exported and re-exported U.S. Company-1 firearms to Russia (via Kyrgyzstan), including semi-automatic hybrid rifle-pistols from U.S. Company-1. According to an export filing, U.S. Company-1 exported semi-automatic rifles from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Kyrgyzstan Company-1 on or about July 10, 2022.

On or about November 14, 2022, the General Director of a Russian company that is a client of the defendant executed a tax form listing the same semi-automatic rifle-pistols that U.S. Company-1 had exported to Kyrgyzstan Company-1, the defendant’s company. The defendant did not apply for, obtain, or possess a license to export or re-export the semi-automatic pistol-rifles to Russia.

The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s National Security and Cybercrime Section. Assistant United States Attorney Ellen H. Sise is in charge of the prosecution, along with Trial Attorney Leslie Esbrook of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, with assistance from Litigation Analyst Rebecca Roth.

When sentenced, Sergei Zharnovnikov faces up to 20 years in prison. The crime was discovered through extensive investigative work. United States Attorney Joseph Nocella, Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg, FBI Assistant Director in Charge Christopher G. Raia, and Jonathan Carson, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security, Office of Export Enforcement, New York Field Office (BIS-OEE), announced the guilty plea.

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