MAYOR ADAMS ANNOUNCES NEW “CO-RESPONSE” OPERATION FOCUSED ON SERVING MORE NEW YORKERS IN NEED ON NEW YORK CITY SUBWAYS

 

Over 1,500 Contacts Made, 500 New Yorkers Received Care in First Month of Program

Adams Administration’s Subway Safety Plan Has Connected More Than 7,800 New Yorkers Living in Subway System to Shelter

Builds on Record Achievement in Subways with Transit Crime Down 5.1 Percent Year to Date

New York City Mayor Eric Adams, New York City Police Department (NYPD) Interim Commissioner Thomas G. Donlon, and New York City Department of Social Services Commissioner (DSS) Molly Wasow Park today announced a new public safety and social services outreach initiative to help keep New Yorkers safe and healthy on the subway system. The initiative — known as Partnership Assistance for Transit Homelessness (PATH) — brings together members of the NYPD Transit Bureau, New York City Department of Homeless Services (DHS), and NYC Health + Hospitals to connect New Yorkers living unsheltered in the subway system with shelter and care. Launched in August, PATH teams consist of DHS nurses and outreach staff working alongside NYPD transit police who conduct outreach overnight at subway stations across Manhattan from 8:00 PM to 12:00 PM. While in the field, the interagency PATH teams engage everyone they see who appears to be unsheltered, offering individualized support based on the person’s expressed or observed challenges. The program will be expanded in the months to come.   

  

PATH is a major advancement in the city’s embrace of “co-response” — a crisis response model gaining traction nationally, in which police are paired with clinical professionals to engage with members of the public in need of medical care and/or social services. Participating police officers receive specialized training in crisis de-escalation and allow their clinical partners to take the lead once safety is assured. While co-response is not meant to replace traditional outreach conducted without police involvement, in certain situations, the presence of police affords clinicians a greater sense of personal safety, enabling more meaningful engagement. Co-response also greatly enhances the ability of a clinician to initiate transport to a hospital for evaluation in circumstances where an individual exhibits symptoms of mental illness presenting a danger to self or others. 

  

“Keeping New Yorkers safe on our subways and maintaining confidence in the transit system that each day moves over 4 million people is key to ensuring that New York remains the safest big city in America,” said Mayor Adams. “When we came into office, we said the days of ignoring people in need — on our streets and in our subways — were over. Since then, we have continued to make mental health and public safety a focus of our administration and have delivered real results. The subways continue to be safer and safer. Year-to-date, subway crime is down over 5 percent, with an almost 9 percent decrease in September alone. With today’s announcement of PATH, we are, once again, demonstrating our responsible approach to addressing the concerns of New Yorkers. Since launching less than two months ago, PATH has already made contact with over 1,500 unhoused New Yorkers and delivered services to over 500 people. This is not only the compassionate thing to do, but the right thing to do. All this work builds on our efforts over the last three years to connect thousands of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness to permanent housing citywide. We will continue to make New York City a safer and more affordable city, and today’s announcement is another example of how we are achieving that vision and delivering significant results.” 

  

“Since the beginning of our administration, we have been laser focused on creating outreach opportunities and supportive connections with people living in unsheltered environments whether in our streets or on our subways,” said Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom. “These efforts include a focus on those with severe mental illness and helping folks get the care they need, even if they may not recognize their needs at a given moment. Our PATH teams are another tool to do this work with response teams including NYPD, social service professionals, and nurses from our public hospital system. We look forward to building on these efforts and reaching every New Yorker in need.” 

  

“The men and women of the NYPD are proud to be part of the significant advances we are making to ensure that all New Yorkers — especially those within our most vulnerable populations — can readily access the city services they require and deserve,” stated NYPD Interim Commissioner Donlon. “As we continue to drive down crime on our streets and in the nation’s largest subway system, we are committed to building more trust and strengthening more relationships with all the people we serve.”  

  

“Our around-the-clock outreach efforts and robust expansion of Safe Havens and stabilization beds have helped more than 2,000 New Yorkers who were experiencing unsheltered homelessness move into permanent homes,” said DSS Commissioner Wasow Park. “As we build on this important progress, this new interagency initiative will further enhance the presence of outreach staff and trained clinicians in the subway system to ensure that we are not missing any opportunity to meaningfully engage some of our harder to reach New Yorkers who are in critical need of quality care in safe and stable settings.” 

  

“We are proud of our tremendous frontline staffers — from outreach workers to case managers — who each played a critical role in helping thousands of New Yorkers experiencing unsheltered homelessness stabilize their lives last year,” said DHS Administrator Joslyn Carter. “But we absolutely cannot do this important work alone, and this new initiative will help strengthen and expand the scope of our interagency outreach efforts in the subway system. We are grateful for our ongoing partnership with NYC Health + Hospitals, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and the New York City Police Department as we work collaboratively to serve and support some of our most vulnerable New Yorkers.” 

  

“NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest provider of behavioral health in New York City, and all of our hospitals offer emergency psychiatric care 24/7,” said NYC Health + Hospitals President and CEO Mitchell Katz, MD. “Our doors are open any time you need support. We are grateful to our colleagues at the Department of Homeless Services and at the NYPD for their efforts to connect people to our care.” 

  

Since its launch, members of the co-response PATH team have engaged with over 1,550 unhoused New Yorkers, with over 500 New Yorkers directly connected to services, ranging from shelter, meals, and medical help. Additionally, continuing to address the quality-of-life concerns of New Yorkers, members of the NYPD issued 18 summonses and removed 190 people from the transit system for various violations of the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s (MTA) rules of conduct or state law.  

  

The PATH program supplements Subway Co-Response Outreach Teams (SCOUT), an initiative the city operates in collaboration with the MTA’s internal police department. In March 2024, Mayor Adams and MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber announced plans to expand SCOUT to 10 teams operating in daytime hours throughout the subway system by the end of 2025. That expansion is underway and on schedule. While there is a difference in the focus of the two programs, the combination and coordination of PATH and SCOUT will allow for the implementation of co-response at more hours and with greater coverage of the extensive subway system.   

  

Additionally, in February 2022, Mayor Adams launched the Subway Safety Plan to address public safety concerns and support people experiencing homelessness and severe mental illness on New York City’s subways. Since the start of the plan, over 7,800 New Yorkers have been connected to shelter, with over 640 now in permanent, affordable housing.  

  

PATH builds on the Adams administration’s numerous investments in evidence-based solutions to reduce the population of New Yorkers experiencing unsheltered homelessness. Efforts are focused on engaging and building trust with unsheltered individuals in all corners of the city — whether in parks, subways, or on street corners — while ensuring the safety of all neighborhoods. Since the start of the Adams administration, DSS has doubled the number of outreach staff and aggressively expanded its inventory of low-barrier safe haven and stabilization beds. Thanks to these important investments, the Adams administration has connected more than 2,000 people experiencing unsheltered homelessness to permanent housing citywide.  

  

This work is also supported by other efforts the Adams administration has undertaken to address the needs of New Yorkers with serious mental illness. As described in “Care, Community, Action: A Mental Health Plan for NYC,” the administration is committed to taking a public health approach to supporting people with severe mental illness, focusing on prevention and intervention, including by: 

  

•   Expanding access to mobile treatment capacity with five more Intensive Mobile Treatment teams that went live in December 2023 to serve people with high service needs.  

•   Expanding access to clubhouse services through awards that will serve up to 3,750 additional clients.  

•   Releasing the city’s first ever State of Mental Health Report and Special Report on Social Media and Mental Health. 

•    Promoting 988, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline and crisis line for all. 

•   Developing a single-access system in collaboration with New York state to consolidate and streamline how New Yorkers with severe mental illness access services, which is expected to go live early next year.
•   Expanding hospital-based response initiative to support people who have experienced a nonfatal overdose. 

  

Among Mayor Adams’ top public safety priorities has been addressing transit crime and homelessness in New York City subways through enhancements in both social services and traditional law enforcement. In addition to launching the Subway Safety Plan, in the fall of 2022, Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul deployed an additional 1,200 police officers to subway platforms and trains each day. Following the end of that deployment in 2023, earlier this year, Mayor Adams directed the NYPD to surge an additional 1,000 police officers into the subway system each day to help keep New Yorkers safe and bring overall crime in the transit system down. And earlier this year, when announcing an expansion of the SCOUT program, Mayor Adams additionally announced a pilot program to utilize new technologies designed to detect weapons carried by travelers into the transit system.  

  

These safety efforts are paying off, with overall crime in the subway system down 5.1 percent year to date, with a 8.7 percent drop in September and double-digit decreases in six months of this year. And last year, overall crime in the transit system fell by nearly 3 percent compared to 2022, as the number of riders increased by 14 percent.  

  

Additionally, in March, the NYPD announced "Operation Fare Play," an initiative to ensure riders pay their fare when entering the subway system by deploying 800 more police officers into the subway system to crack down on those evading paying their fare as they commit other crimes. The successful operation has helped correct behavior and keep the subway system safe. 

NYC Council Speaker Adams Calls Pregnancy-Associated Deaths a Public Health Crisis, Announces Plan to Convene Stakeholders to Confront Maternal Mortality with Coordinated Action

 

Despite recent interventions, over 20 New Yorkers still die from preventable pregnancy-related causes each year, with Black women and low-income communities disproportionately impacted

New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams called for all of New York City’s stakeholders to prioritize confronting maternal mortality as an urgent public health crisis. Speaker Adams declared that these preventable pregnancy-associated deaths with severe racial disparities must not be normalized, just days after it was revealed that 24-year-old Bevorlin Garcia Barrios died at Woodhull Medical Center last month. As part of her clarion call, she announced an intention to convene of city, state, and federal government officials, public health leaders, unions, advocates, and other city stakeholders in ongoing coordinated efforts to address the crisis of maternal mortality in New York City.

Speaker Adams’ livestreamed speech can be found here, and the text of the speech can be found here.

In New York City, over 20 women die each year from pregnancy or childbirth-related causes. Black New Yorkers are six times more likely to die of pregnancy-related causes compared to white New Yorkers. These disparities are a product of medical and structural racism that leave Black women, communities of color and low-income New Yorkers without access to adequate health care and medical treatment, while experiencing stressors that perpetuate severe disparities in health outcomes. 

Addressing the racial disparities in maternal health, mortality, and morbidity has been a top priority for the Council, yet Speaker Adams’ speech noted the limitations of lawmaking in successfully confronting the crisis.

In 2022, the Council passed a package of 11 bills to expand maternal health services, including doula care, and address systemic inequities that affect women and birthing people, particularly those that disproportionately harm Black, Latino, and indigenous people. Earlier this year, Speaker Adams outlined several initiatives in her 2024 State of the City address to confront the maternal mental health challenges facing New Yorkers during and post-pregnancy. According to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, in 2021, the leading cause of pregnancy-associated deaths in New York City was attributed to mental health conditions, and two-thirds of the total 58 deaths occurred within a year of postpartum. Last month, as part of the third stop of the Council’s Mental Health Roadmap, the Council passed a package of bills aimed at improving maternal mental health support. The legislation includes efforts to create a pilot program establishing postpartum support groups in each borough.  

The full speech as prepared for delivery is below.

Good afternoon.

Thank you for joining us today at City Hall. We are joined by Deputy Speaker Diana Ayala, Majority Leader Amanda Farias, Council Member Carlina Rivera, Hospitals Chair Mercedes Narcisse, Health Chair Lynn Schulman, and BLAC Co-Chair Crystal Hudson.

I also want to acknowledge Patricia Loftman, a decades-long leader in midwifery services.

We are gathered here to address the critical state of maternal health in our city.

We are failing women during one of the most vulnerable periods of their lives.

As a society, we accept maternal mortality as an unfortunate casualty, when in fact a majority of deaths could have been prevented with appropriate care and attention.

When you look at the severe racial disparities in the cases of maternal mortality, it becomes clear that this is an unsung public health emergency. These deaths are not accidents; they are a disturbing pattern of injustice.

Just last week, we learned of the tragic death of Bevorlin Garcia Barrios, who went to one of our city’s public hospitals in search of care. Despite alerting medical staff of her serious pain and symptoms, she was sent home.

When she returned to the hospital just days later with an increased severity of symptoms, she was finally admitted, but her case was not treated as an emergency. Why?

The very next day, she died from complications of an emergency C-section.

Bevorlin was the third woman to die during childbirth at Woodhull Medical Center since 2020. In New York City, an average of 20 women die each year from pregnancy or childbirth-related causes.

A common thread in these tragedies is often a lack of clear communication among some hospital staff, and between provider and patient, leading to serious patient concerns being ignored. These communication issues are further complicated when there are language barriers, and hospitals lack qualified interpreters.

My heart goes out to Bevorlin’s family and friends, and to people across our city who have also experienced the unimaginable grief of losing a loved one to pregnancy-related causes.

Across the nation, far too many Black women and others who can become pregnant suffer preventable, life-threatening complications during pregnancy and childbirth that too often cost them their lives.

Here in New York City, Black women are six times more likely to die of pregnancy-related causes compared to our white counterparts.

These disparities are a product of medical and structural racism that make access to adequate health care and treatment out of reach for low-income, immigrant, and Black women.

Every death is a tragedy, but make no mistake about it — every preventable death is a tragic failure. As a government, we must bear responsibility for the loss of each precious life, and the reality is that most of these deaths are preventable.

In the wealthiest city in the world, with some of the greatest medical institutions, this is completely unacceptable. We must act with far greater urgency to prevent these deadly outcomes.

While we have made progress in recent years through an increased focus, we must treat this crisis as the emergency it is and do more. 

Despite ongoing interventions from the Council, the City, and the State, from providing free doula care in underserved communities to investing in mental health support, maternal mortality continues to devastate our communities.

Today, I am raising the alarm. Ending maternal mortality must be our urgent focus. This issue is solvable. All levels of government and all stakeholders that possess the resources must come together to help end this public health and safety crisis.

Too often, Black women, and other people of color, have their pain and symptoms dismissed by medical professionals, leading to delayed diagnoses and insufficient care.

My own mother was one of these women.

She experienced several false alarms while preparing to give birth to me. On her fourth visit to Elmhurst General Hospital, the nurses dismissed her symptoms as just another false alarm.

Despite her insistence that this time was different, she was ignored. And so, she gave birth to me alone, on a gurney in a corner of the hospital. It is a miracle that we both survived.

For years, stories like my mother’s were completely ignored and it is clear that her experience still occurs. The devastating impact of pregnancy-related complications, especially in communities of color, has been overlooked for too long.

It is no coincidence, then, that with more representative and diverse leadership — particularly women-led leadership — maternal health has garnered renewed scrutiny and attention.

As a women-majority City Council and the most diverse in our city’s history, our legislative body is made up of mothers, grandmothers, expectant mothers, and those supporting their partners through pregnancy.

This is personal for us as leaders of communities who intimately know these experiences firsthand.

New Yorkers are looking to all of us for leadership, and it requires approaching this crisis with humility and clarity. While recognizing some progress, we must be honest that there are limitations to the solutions we’ve advanced and what we can achieve through lawmaking alone.

We need comprehensive solutions that require the coordination, collaboration, and sustained investments of all stakeholders: the city, state, and federal government, brilliant minds in our public and private hospital systems, university medical schools, community-based organizations, healthcare providers, advocates, and survivors.

The problems are well-known, in large part because of the strong voices of advocates who have worked tirelessly to put solutions in front of us.

We must all move as one, harnessing shared political will to fix the patchwork of challenges that allow so many to fall through the cracks.

That is why today, I am announcing that my office and the Council will convene stakeholders to leverage our collective power and resources to confront these longstanding inequities that lead to the horror of maternal mortality. We will keep this issue at the top of our priority lists.

Our intent is to create ongoing collaboration focused on consistent and coordinated action.

There are many notorious issues that deserve our focus, and this work must be guided by experts who can lead us to take concrete actions to achieve maternal health equity.

Culturally competent care has lifesaving implications. Language access, which has been a barrier, ensures providers can communicate clearly with patients.

Discrimination is another problem. It’s well documented that providers are less likely to believe Black women and other women of color about their pain and symptoms. These biases can have devastating consequences, from patients not receiving proper pain management to loss of life.

We can support New Yorkers by also investing in our public hospitals and safety net hospitals that care for those most impacted by maternal mortality.

These hospitals overwhelmingly serve low-income and immigrant populations, as well as communities of color. Many patients arrive needing serious medical care and are underinsured or uninsured. Staff are often overworked, understaffed, and under-resourced.

The combination of these structural inequities makes it challenging for public and safety net hospitals to meet the quality of care New Yorkers deserve.

Our hospitals must be better resourced and prepared to serve their patient populations with pre-existing disparities.

Maternal health requires that we not only address physical care, but also the broader determinants of health — accessible mental health services, safety, nutrition, and housing — all of this directly impacts maternal outcomes.

In New York City, the leading cause of pregnancy-associated deaths was mental health conditions, with 20 deaths due to overdoses in 2021.

This is an alarming statistic that makes clear the City must do more to focus on postpartum care.

We must also consider the comprehensive health and safety of all women before they decide to become mothers.

Stressors like poverty, lack of access to health care, including prenatal care, and unstable living conditions can lead to negative health outcomes with long-term implications that contribute to issues during pregnancy.

Finally, we need to strengthen the continuum of care, because those who are at greatest risk of maternal mortality don’t have consistent access to health care in the first place.

This requires us to invest more in community-based interventions for low-income women that improve their overall health.

Continuity in care can help mothers and providers build trusting relationships, while ensuring providers are more attuned to changing health patterns or behaviors that can occur over time.

Addressing these longstanding inequities will require sustained focus and ongoing action.

The maternal health crisis is a public health emergency, and New Yorkers are counting on us to treat it with the urgency and dignity that our mothers deserve.

I will consistently use my voice as Speaker to keep it at the forefront of the agenda for our city and bring powerful stakeholders together.

We have the talent, resources, and tools to change the trajectory of maternal mortality in our city.

No one should die from preventable causes, and we owe it to our mothers — without whom there is no life — to work together and get this right.

Thank you.

Two Russian Nationals Charged For Their Participation In An Illicit Procurement Network That Exported To Russia Sensitive U.S.-Sourced Microelectronics With Military Applications In Violation Of U.S. Export Controls

 

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, James E. Dennehy, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), and Jonathan Carson, the Special Agent in Charge of the Office of Export Enforcement of the New York Field Office of the Bureau of Industry and Security of the U.S. Department of Commerce, announced that ZHANNA SOLDATENKOVA and RUSLAN ALMETOV, both Russian nationals, were indicted along with ARTHUR PETROV, a dual Russian and German national, for export control violations, smuggling, wire fraud, and money laundering in connection with their alleged participation in a scheme to procure U.S.-sourced microelectronics subject to U.S. export controls on behalf of a Russia-based supplier of critical electronics components for manufacturers supplying weaponry and other equipment to the Russian military.  PETROV, previously charged in a criminal Complaint, was arrested on August 26, 2023, in the Republic of Cyprus at the request of the U.S. and was extradited from the Republic of Cyprus earlier this year.  He arrived in the Southern District of New York on August 8, 2024, and was ordered detained.  SOLDATENKOVA and ALMETOV are at large.  The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein. 

The indictment can be read here. 

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Zhanna Soldatenkova and Ruslan Almetov are now charged, alongside previously charged Arthur Petrov, for conspiring to smuggle microelectronics with military applications from U.S. distributors to a Russian company that supplies manufacturers for the Russian military.  This Office is committed to exposing the full breadth of such illicit procurement networks and protecting our national security.” 

Assistant Director in Charge James E. Dennehy said: “Zhanna Soldatenkova and Ruslan Almetova, along with Arthur Petrov, allegedly conspired to evade export laws as members of an illegal international procurement network to help aid the Russian defense industry.  As alleged, by deliberately concealing the true nature of their business, they not only violated the law but ultimately put the national security of our country at risk.  The FBI, in concert with our partners, is determined to protect the United States and will hold accountable anyone attempting to harm our nation.”

Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Carson said: “As this action demonstrates, we will work with our domestic and international law enforcement partners to charge alleged violators wherever they may be worldwide. Illegal global procurement networks that prop up the Russian war machine will not be tolerated. That’s why we and our law enforcement partners are working nonstop to ensure that those operating such networks face American justice.”

According to the allegations contained in the Indictment returned in Manhattan federal court:[1]

PETROV is a dual Russian-German national who previously resided in Russia and Cyprus and worked for LLC Electrocom VPK (“Electrocom”), a Russia-based supplier of critical electronics components for manufacturers supplying weaponry and other equipment to the Russian military.  SOLDATENKOVA is a Russian national who has resided in Russia and worked for Electrocom.  ALMETOV is also a Russian national who has resided in Russia and was the co-founder and served as General Director of Electrocom.

PETROV, SOLDATENKOVA, and ALMETOV operated an illicit procurement network in Russia and elsewhere overseas.  More specifically, they fraudulently procured from U.S. distributors large quantities of microelectronics subject to U.S. export controls on behalf of Electrocom.  To carry out the scheme, PETROV, SOLDATENKOVA, and ALMETOV used shell companies and other deceptive means to conceal that the electronics components were destined for Russia.  The technology that the defendants procured in contravention of export controls had significant military applications and included various types of electronics components of the sort that have been recovered in Russian military hardware on the battlefield in Ukraine, such as Russian guided missiles, drones, and electronic warfare and communications devices.

To perpetrate the scheme, PETROV first acquired the controlled microelectronics from U.S.-based electronics exporters using a Cyprus-based shell company, Astrafteros Technokosmos LTD (“Astrafteros”), which he operated.  PETROV procured these sensitive electronics components by falsely representing to the U.S. exporters that Astrafteros was purchasing the items for fire security systems, among other commercial uses, and that the ultimate end-users and destinations of the electronics are companies in Cyprus or other third countries — when in fact the components were destined for Electrocom in Russia, which supplies manufacturers for the Russian military.  The microelectronics that PETROV procured as part of the conspiracy included, among other things, microcontrollers and integrated circuits on the Commerce Control List maintained by the Commerce Department and which could not lawfully be exported or reexported to Russia without a license from the Commerce Department.  Invoices provided to PETROV by the U.S. distributors expressly noted that these microcontrollers and integrated circuits were subject to U.S. export controls.

To evade these controls, PETROV, SOLDATENKOVA, and ALMETOV worked together to transship the controlled items procured by PETROV using pass-through entities operated by SOLDATENKOVA and ALMETOV in third countries.  SOLDATENKOVA and ALMETOV then caused the items to be shipped, sometimes through yet another country, to the ultimate destination: Electrocom in Saint Petersburg, Russia.  At all times, PETROV, SOLDATENKOVA, and ALMETOV concealed from the U.S. distributors that they were procuring the controlled electronics components on behalf of Electrocom and that the items were destined for Russia.  During the course of the conspiracy, PETROV, SOLDATENKOVA, and ALMETOV procured from U.S. distributors and shipped to Russia more than $225,000 worth of controlled electronics components with military applications.

A table containing the charges and maximum penalties for PETROV, 35, of Russia and Cyprus, SOLDATENKOVA, 36, of Russia, and ALMETOV, 43, of Russia, is set forth below.  The maximum penalties are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by a judge.

Charge	Defendants	Maximum Penalties
Count One:  Conspiracy to defraud the United States (18 U.S.C. § 371)	PETROV, SOLDATENKOVA, and ALMETOV	5 years’ imprisonment
Count Two:  Conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act (“ECRA”) (50 U.S.C. §§ 4819(a)(1), 4819(a)(2)(A)-G), and 4819(b); 15 C.F.R. §§ 736.2(b)(1), 746.8(a)(1), and 764.2)	PETROV, SOLDATENKOVA, and ALMETOV	20 years’ imprisonment
Count Three:  Violation of ECRA (50 U.S.C. §§ 4819(a)(1), 4819(a)(2)(A)-G), and 4819(b); 15 C.F.R. §§ 736.2(b)(1), 746.8(a)(1), and 764.2)	PETROV and SOLDATENKOVA	20 years’ imprisonment
Count Four:  Violation of ECRA (50 U.S.C. §§ 4819(a)(1), 4819(a)(2)(A)-G), and 4819(b); 15 C.F.R. §§ 736.2(b)(1), 746.8(a)(1), and 764.2)	PETROV and SOLDATENKOVA	20 years’ imprisonment
Count Five:  Violation of ECRA (50 U.S.C. §§ 4819(a)(1), 4819(a)(2)(A)-G), and 4819(b); 15 C.F.R. §§ 736.2(b)(1), 746.8(a)(1), and 764.2)	PETROV, SOLDATENKOVA, and ALMETOV	20 years’ imprisonment
Count Six:  Conspiracy to smuggle goods from the United States (18 U.S.C. § 371)	PETROV, SOLDATENKOVA, and ALMETOV	5 years’ imprisonment
Count Seven:  Smuggling goods from the United States (18 U.S.C. §§ 554(a) and 2)	PETROV and SOLDATENKOVA	10 years’ imprisonment
Count Eight:  Smuggling goods from the United States (18 U.S.C. §§ 554(a) and 2)	PETROV and SOLDATENKOVA	10 years’ imprisonment
Count Nine:  Smuggling goods from the United States (18 U.S.C. §§ 554(a) and 2)	PETROV, SOLDATENKOVA, and ALMETOV	10 years’ imprisonment
Count Ten:  Conspiracy to commit wire fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1349)	PETROV, SOLDATENKOVA, and ALMETOV	20 years’ imprisonment
Count Eleven:  Conspiracy to commit money laundering (18 U.S.C. §§ 1956(h), 1956(f))	PETROV, SOLDATENKOVA, and ALMETOV	20 years’ imprisonment

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI and its New York Field Office, Counterintelligence Division and the New York Field Office of the Bureau of Industry and Security of the Department of Commerce.  Mr. Williams also thanked the FBI’s Legal Attaché offices in Poland, Germany, and Athens, Greece; the Department of Justice’s National Security Division, Counterintelligence and Export Control Section; the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs; the Republic of Cyprus Ministry of Justice and Public Order; and the Law Office of the Republic for their assistance.  The Republic of Cyprus National Police also provided critical assistance in effecting the defendant’s arrest and detention at the request of the U.S.

This prosecution is coordinated through the Justice Department’s Task Force KleptoCapture and the Justice and Commerce Departments’ Disruptive Technology Strike Force.  Task Force KleptoCapture is an interagency law enforcement task force dedicated to enforcing the sweeping sanctions, export restrictions, and economic countermeasures that the U.S. has imposed, along with its allies and partners, in response to Russia’s unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine.  The Disruptive Technology Strike Force is an interagency law enforcement strike force co-led by the Departments of Justice and Commerce designed to target illicit actors, protect supply chains, and prevent critical technology from being acquired by authoritarian regimes and hostile nation states.

This case is being handled by the Office’s National Security and International Narcotics Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Sullivan is in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Trial Attorney Maria Fedor of the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.

The charges in the Indictment are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

[1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Indictment and the description of the Indictment set forth herein constitute only allegations, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.