Armenian National Illegally Exported Chip Equipment to Russia, DOJ Says
The U.S. charged Armenian national Kamo Kirakosyan this week with violating export controls after DOJ said he participated in a conspiracy to illegally export semiconductor manufacturing items from the U.S. to Russia through Armenia.
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From February 2022 until at least August 2024, DOJ said Kirakosyan worked with others to ship the items, which involved transactions with "one or more entities" sanctioned by the Treasury Department. In May 2022, he allegedly sent a co-conspirator instructions on opening a bank account in Armenia "for the purpose of evading sanctions," DOJ said. The agency also said Kirakosyan told U.S. companies that he was the buyer of the goods and didn't "provide truthful information about the end users, despite the U.S. companies’ requests for end user statements." DOJ said Kirakosyan knew the exports were illegal without a license.
He was charged with one count of conspiracy to violate federal law, one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S., one count of attempted violation of the Export Control Reform Act, one count of attempted smuggling, one count of violation of the ECRA, and one count of smuggling. He was extradited to the U.S. on Aug. 29 and first appeared in a federal district court in Texas on Sept. 2.