New Jersey Resident Pleads Guilty to Helping Russia’s Defense Sector Evade U.S. Export Controls

Vadim Yermolenko, 43, a dual U.S.-Russian national and resident of New Jersey, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and conspiracy to defraud the United States for his role in a transnational procurement and money laundering network that sought to acquire sensitive dual-use electronics for Russian military and intelligence services.

“This defendant joins the nearly two dozen other criminals that our Task Force KleptoCapture has brought to justice in American courtrooms over the past two and a half years for enabling Russia’s military aggression,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “This defendant admitted to playing a central role in a now-disrupted scheme with Russian intelligence services to smuggle sniper rifle ammunition and U.S. military grade equipment into Russia. The Justice Department will never stop working to aggressively disrupt and prosecute both the criminal networks and the individuals responsible for bolstering the Russian war machine.”

“The illegal export of sensitive, dual-use technologies in support of Russia’s war effort poses a significant threat to the United States and its allies and must not be tolerated,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “The defendant in this case played a key role in exporting U.S. technology that in the hands of our adversaries could pose great danger to our national security. The FBI and its partners will continue to focus on protecting strategic innovation at home and hold accountable anyone who facilitates illegal transfers to hostile nations like Russia.”

“To facilitate the Russian war machine, the defendant played a critical role in exporting sensitive, dual-use technologies to Russia, facilitating shipping and the movement of millions of dollars through U.S. financial institutions,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York. “This plea highlights my Office and our law enforcement partners continued commitment to use all tools available to prosecute those who unlawfully procure U.S. technology to send to Russia.”

According to court documents, the defendant was affiliated with Serniya Engineering and Sertal LLC, Moscow-based companies that operate under the direction of Russian intelligence services to procure advanced electronics and sophisticated testing equipment for Russia’s military industrial complex and research and development sector. Serniya and Sertal operated a vast network of shell companies and bank accounts throughout the world, including the United States, that were used in furtherance of the scheme to conceal the involvement of the Russian government and the true Russian end users of U.S.-origin equipment.

The defendant and his co-conspirators unlawfully purchased and exported highly sensitive, export controlled electronic components, some of which can be used in the development of nuclear and hypersonic weapons, quantum computing and other military applications. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) levied sanctions and imposed additional export restrictions on Serniya, Sertal, and several individuals and companies used in the scheme, calling them “instrumental to the Russian Federation’s war machine.”

Sertal was licensed to conduct highly sensitive and classified procurement activities by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), Russia’s principal security agency and the main successor agency to the Soviet Union’s KGB. The Serniya network’s Russian clients included State Corporation Rostec, the state-owned defense conglomerate; State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom (Rosatom); the Ministry of Defense; the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR); and various components of the FSB, including the Department of Military Counterintelligence and the Directorate for Scientific and Technological Intelligence, commonly known as “Directorate T.”

To carry out the scheme, the defendant helped set up numerous shell companies and dozens of bank accounts in the U.S. to illicitly move money and export-controlled goods. During the period charged in the indictment, more than $12 million passed through accounts owned or controlled by the defendant. These funds were used in part to purchase sensitive equipment used in radar, surveillance and military research and development. In one instance, money from one of the defendant’s accounts was used to purchase export-controlled sniper bullets, which were intercepted in Estonia before they could be smuggled into Russia.

Co-defendant Alexey Brayman previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States and is awaiting sentence. The case against co-defendant Vadim Konoshchenok, a suspected FSB operative, was dismissed after Konoshchenok was removed from the United States as part of a prisoner exchange negotiated between the United States and Russia. Defendant Nikolaos Bogonikolos’ case remains pending. Defendants Boris Livshits, Alexey Ippolitov, Svetlana Skvortsova, and Yevgeniy Grinin remain at large.        

The FBI, BIS, and IRS are investigating the case.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, and Estonian authorities provided valuable assistance.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Artie McConnell, Andrew D. Reich, and Matthew Skurnik for the Eastern District of New York are prosecuting the case, with assistance from Trial Attorney Scott A. Claffee of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.

Today’s actions were coordinated through the Justice Department’s Task Force KleptoCapture and the Justice and Commerce Departments’ Disruptive Technology Strike Force. Task Force KleptoCapture is an interagency law enforcement task force dedicated to enforcing the sweeping sanctions, export restrictions and economic countermeasures that the United States has imposed, along with its allies and partners, in response to Russia’s unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine. The Disruptive Technology Strike Force is an interagency law enforcement strike force co-led by the Departments of Justice and Commerce designed to target illicit actors, protect supply chains and prevent critical technology from being acquired by authoritarian regimes and hostile nation states.