Defendant Facilitated Shipments of Controlled Industrial Equipment to Russia
A 12-count indictment was unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn charging Natalya Ivanovna Mazulina, also known as “Natasha Mazulina,” for her alleged involvement in a scheme to circumvent U.S. export laws and sanctions on Russia. Mazulina, the Western regional manager of a freight forwarding company based in Jamaica, New York, which operated out of John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK airport) in Queens, New York, and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Washington State, was arrested in Seattle and will be arraigned in the Eastern District of New York at a later date.
Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Matthew G. Olsen, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s National Security Division; James E. Dennehy, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI); and James Guanci, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC), Office of Export Enforcement, Boston, announced the arrest and charges.
“As alleged, Mazulina used her position as a manager of a freight forwarding company to facilitate unlawful exports to Russia through JFK airport,” stated United States Attorney Peace. “Evading U.S export regulations presents a danger to our national security, and we will continue to use all of our law enforcement and national security tools make sure these enablers, both individuals and corporations, cannot operate in our district.”
Mr. Peace extended his appreciation to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington, the FBI’s Seattle Field Office, and the DOC’s Boston Field Office for their assistance in this case.
“The defendant exploited her knowledge of the export business to falsify documents and circumvent U.S. sanctions by illegally shipping oil and gas products to Russian customers,” stated Assistant Attorney General Olsen. “American companies like the freight forwarder where Mazulina worked play a critical role in the global supply chain and movement of goods. The National Security Division will not tolerate individuals who seek to abuse their positions in these companies for financial gain at the expense of national security.”
“Collaborating with foreign actors to evade U.S. export controls is a serious national security violation,” said DOC Special Agent in Charge Guanci. “The Office of Export Enforcement, alongside its law enforcement partners, will continue to aggressively investigate efforts to illicitly fuel Russia’s wartime economy.”
As alleged in the indictment, from at least December 2022 through December 2024, Mazulina conspired with Russian freight forwarding companies and others to unlawfully ship controlled items, including industrial oil and gas equipment from the United States to Russia, through intermediary countries. At one point, in June 2023, Mazulina told colleagues that her clients were paying through bank accounts in third party countries because “[m]ost of [her] clients [were] currently sanctioned with USA.” Mazulina attempted to conceal the unlawful scheme by submitting and causing the submission of false export documents to the U.S. government, documents which should have revealed that the exported goods were destined for Russia.
Mazulina is charged with conspiracy to export controlled goods to Russia without a license, conspiracy to defraud the U.S., conspiracy to commit money laundering, exporting controlled goods to Russia without a license, filing false export documents with the U.S. government, and smuggling goods contrary to U.S. law. If convicted, she faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count of conspiring to export or exporting controlled goods to Russia without a license; up to 20 years in prison for conspiring to commit money laundering; up to 10 years in prison for each count of smuggling; and up to five years in prison for each count of conspiracy and filing false export documents with the U.S. government.
The charges in the indictment are allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s National Security and Cybercrime Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Artie McConnell and Matthew Skurnik are in charge of the prosecution, along with Trial Attorneys Christopher M. Rigali and Adam Barry of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, and with the assistance of Litigation Analyst Emma Tavangari. The Department of Justice’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section assisted with this investigation.
The investigation was coordinated through the Justice Department’s Task Force KleptoCapture, an interagency law enforcement task force dedicated to enforcing the sweeping sanctions, export controls and economic countermeasures that, beginning in 2014, the United States, along with its foreign allies and partners, has imposed in response to Russia’s unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine. Announced by the Attorney General on March 2, 2022, and under the leadership of the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, the task force will continue to leverage all of the department’s tools and authorities to combat efforts to evade or undermine the collective actions taken by the U.S. government in response to Russian military aggression.
No comments:
Post a Comment