Gal Haimovich, a 49-year-old Israeli national, was sentenced to two years imprisonment and three years of supervised release for conspiracy to illegally ship aircraft parts and avionics from US manufacturers and suppliers to Russia, the US Justice Department announced on Friday. 

Haimovich was also ordered to forfeit the amount of $2,024,435.44. 

The shipments violated US restrictions, providing parts to the benefit of sanctioned Russian airline companies. Some of the aircraft parts and avionics shipped by Haimovich had missile technology applications, the department noted.

Shipments to Russia

Haimovich, through the use of his international freight forwarding company, operated as a freight forwarder for entities seeking to illegally export goods to Russia in violation of US export control laws, the department said. 
A Gazprom worker walks next to pipelines at a gas measuring station at the Russian-Ukrainian border in Sudzha near Kursk, some 500 km (311 miles) south of Moscow, December 5, 2008. (credit: REUTERS/DENIS SINYAKOV)
A Gazprom worker walks next to pipelines at a gas measuring station at the Russian-Ukrainian border in Sudzha near Kursk, some 500 km (311 miles) south of Moscow, December 5, 2008. (credit: REUTERS/DENIS SINYAKOV)
Between April 2022 and April 2023, Haimovich was found to have arranged for more than 160 shipments to companies in the Maldives and the United Arab Emirates - to companies that would later ship the goods to Russia. 

Haimovich admitted to legal authorities that between March 2022 and May 2023, he billed Russian customers, including Siberia Airlines, over two million dollars to have aircraft parts and avionics illegally exported from the United States to Russia.