Sergey Karpushkin, 46, of Miami and a citizen of Belarus, has been arrested and charged violating US sanctions against Russia.
Karpushkin, according to a US Department of Justice (DOJ) statement, was federally charged with engaging in a scheme to violate US sanctions against oligarch Sergey Kurchenko and two related companies by purchasing over USD 150 million in steelmaking materials.
Karpushkin’s alleged co-conspirator, John C. Unsalan, 41, of Orlando, was indicted by a federal grand jury for the same scheme on April 12, and was arrested on April 14 on related charges.
According to court documents, Kurchenko was sanctioned by the US Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in 2015 for his role in misappropriating Ukrainian state assets or economically significant entities. The two sanctioned companies – Kompaniya Gaz-Alyans, OOO (Gaz-Alyans), based in the Russian Federation, and ZAO Vneshtorgservis (Vneshtorgservis), based in the unrecognized territory of South Ossetia – were designated by OFAC in 2018 for acting on behalf of and providing material support to the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic in the separatist-controlled regions of eastern Ukraine.
The complaint, says the DOJ statement, charges Karpushkin with one count of conspiring to violate and evade US sanctions, in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The indictment against Unsalan charges him with one count of conspiring to violate and evade US sanctions, in violation of the IEEPA; 10 counts of violating the IEEPA; one count of conspiring to commit international money laundering; and 10 counts of international money laundering.
If convicted, Karpushkin and Unsalan each face up to 20 years in federal prison on each count with which they are charged. Unsalan made his initial appearance in federal court on April 17, and has been detained pending further court proceedings. Karpushkin made his initial appearance in federal court this afternoon and was also detained.
Source: Kuwait News Agency