According to the Justice Department, the US has charged a 57-year-old Indian national for allegedly conspiring to export controlled US aviation components to end users in Russia.
Sanjay Kaushik, 57, was arrested in Miami on October 17 and was indicted on Thursday, the Department of Justice said in a press release on Friday.
He was indicted for conspiring to illegally export aviation components with dual civilian and military applications to end users in Russia in violation of the Export Control Reform Act.
Kaushik is also charged with attempting to illegally export a navigation and flight control system from Oregon to Russia through India and with making false statements in connection with an export.
He faces maximum terms of 20 years in prison and up to $1 million in fines per count for the charges contained in the indictment.
According to court documents, since at least March 2023, following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kaushik and others conspired to commit exportation and attempted to commit exportation of defense articles: aerospace goods and technology from the US to be sold to entities in Russia.
The goods were bought under the false pretence that they were to be supplied to Kaushik and his Indian company when in fact they were for end-users in Russia, the company said in a release to the press.
Kaushik and his co-conspirators bought an Attitude Heading Reference System, which is a device used to provide navigation and flight control data to aircraft, from an Oregon-based supplier, prosecutors said.
Components like the AHRS must be licensed by the Department of Commerce before they are shipped to countries like Russia.
To secure an export license for the AHRS, federal prosecutors say Kaushik and his co-conspirators lied to the Department of Commerce when they falsely stated that Kaushik's Indian company was the end purchaser and the component would go into a civilian helicopter.
"Kaushik and his fellow conspirators acquired the AHRS that was ultimately seized prior to its exportation from the United States on behalf of and for the purpose of shipping it, through India, to a purchaser in Russia, they allegedly said.".
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