NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A Ukrainian national was sentenced to 33 months imprisonment in New Haven federal court on Wednesday for attempting to violate United States export laws and regulations by trying to smuggle a dual-use export-controlled item, or jig grinder, to Russia.
According to a release from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut, 39-year-old Stanislav Romanyuk will have his prison sentence followed by three years of supervised release.
Court documents, and statements made in court, reveal that Romanyuk, who operated Estonia-based BY Trade OU, began conspiring in 2018 with Vadims Ananics and Eriks Mamonovs, who are Latvia citizens who operated the Latvia-based corporation CNC Weld.
Prosecutors said Romanyuk also worked with individuals in Russia and a Russian company to violate U.S. export laws and regulations and try smuggling into Russia a 500 Series CPWZ Precision Jig Grinder that was manufactured in Connecticut.
A jig grinder is a high-precision grinding machine that does not require a license to export to European Union countries but does require a license for export and reexport to Russia due to its potential application in nuclear proliferation and defense programs, according to prosecutors.
Romanyuk and his co-conspirators were aware that the jig grinder could not be exported from the U.S. to Russia and did not apply for, receive or possess a license of authorization from the U.S. Department of Commerce to export or reexport the jig grinder to Russia, which is mandated by the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 and the Export Administration Regulations. Both laws restrict the export of items that could make a major contribution to other nations’ militaries or be detrimental to US foreign policy or national security.
Prosecutors said that in April 2019, Romanyuk brokered the sale of the jig grinder from By Trade OU to a Russian company using funds wired to it from the Russian company to purchase the jig grinder from Sapphire Universal, LLP, a Latvian company.
Prosecutors noted that Sapphire Universal, which Romanyuk was aware was in the business of acquiring dual use items from the U.S. for sale in Russia, used CNC Weld as the claimed recipient and end-user of the jig grinder because no license was required to export the jig grinder to Latvia from the US.
In August 2019, Ananics and others traveled to Bridgeport to complete the purchase of the jig grinder. There, Ananics told sellers that the jig grinder was being bought to benefit CNC Weld.
In September 2021, Romanyuk gave a false statement to Estonian authorities about the jig grinder transaction to cover up his involvement in the scheme, according to prosecutors.
US authorities worked with Latvian authorities to intercept the jig grinder in Riga, Latvia before it made its way to Russia. Prosecutors say that around $826,000 in funds involved in the purchase of the jig grinder were then forfeited, and a significant portion of the forfeited funds were sent to Estonia to provide aid to Ukraine.
Romanyuk was arrested in Latvia on June 13, 2022, and pleaded guilty to international money laundering conspiracy on May 23; prosecutors said he has been detained since his arrest. Meanwhile, Ananics and Mamonovs pleaded guilty to similar charges.
The investigation has been conducted by HIS field offices in New Haven and the Hague, Netherlands; the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Export Enforcement in Boston and Portland, Ore.; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division.
Prosecutors said that the Prosecutor-General’s Office of the Republic of Latvia, the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Estonia, Latvian Tax and Customs Police, Estonian Tax and Customs Board and the Latvian State Police each contributed to the investigation.
The investigation was coordinated through the Justice Department’s Task Force KelptoCapture, which prosecutors describe as an interagency law enforcement task force dedicated to enforcing the sweeping sanctions, export controls and economic countermeasures that the US and its foreign allies and partners imposed in response to Russia’s unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine.
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Dalton Zbierski is a digital content producer and writer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dzbierski@FOX61.com.
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