Russian-American pleads guilty to smuggling sensitive tech to Moscow
Source: Agence France-Presse
Russian-American pleads guilty to smuggling sensitive tech to Moscow
AFP in New York
Wednesday 9 September 2015 22.39 BST
A Russian-American businessman pleaded guilty on Wednesday to charges of smuggling sensitive US microelectronics for Moscow after fighting the case for three years, the Justice Department said.
Alexander Fishenko, 49, was the owner of a Houston company, Arc Electronics, when he was arrested in 2012 on allegations that he had shipped to Russian military and intelligence agencies controlled electronics and computer chips that can be used in radar and surveillance systems, missile guidance systems and detonation triggers.
Arc, which portrayed itself as a maker of traffic lights, gave false information to the manufacturers on the planned end-use and end-users of the electronics, and disguised the goods when shipping to avoid US export controls.
Fishenko, one of 11 people allegedly involved in the scheme who were arrested in 2012, had fought the charges, but finally pleaded guilty ahead of a trial scheduled to start soon.
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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/09/alexander-fishenko-arc-electronics-pleads-guilty-smuggling-russia