By Yasin Gungor
ISTANBUL (AA) - The US Justice Department sentenced an Israeli freight forwarder to two years in prison on Friday for shipping aircraft parts to Russia in violation of export restrictions.
The agency said Gal Haimovich, 49, must serve three years of supervised release after his release for conspiring to send US-made aviation components to sanctioned Russian airlines.
The Justice Department said Haimovich's freight forwarding company served clients seeking to bypass US export restrictions to Russia through his business network in the US and Israel.
Haimovich organized more than 160 shipments through companies in the Maldives and the United Arab Emirates that redirected the goods to Russia between April 2022 and April 2023, it said in a statement.
The agency said Haimovich admitted to deceiving US companies about the shipments' destinations and submitting false export documents to the government.
The Israeli businessman also paid $2,024,435.44 in forfeiture and surrendered aircraft parts at sentencing as part of his plea.
The US imposed strict export controls on Russia following the start of its war in Ukraine in February 2022, particularly targeting aviation technology to degrade Russian military and commercial aircraft capabilities.