John Can Unsalan, also known as Hurrem Can Unsalan, the president of Metalhouse LLC, a steel trading firm based in Orlando, Florida, has been sentenced to six years in prison for his involvement in a money laundering conspiracy. His former business associate, Sergey Karpushkin, a Belarusian national residing in Miami, was also sentenced to 21 months in prison for his role in the scheme.
The charges stem from their dealings with Sergey Kurchenko, a pro-Russian Ukrainian oligarch who was sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in 2015. Kurchenko was targeted for his involvement in misappropriating state assets in Ukraine.
According to court documents, Unsalan and Karpushkin knowingly engaged in trade with Kurchenko and his affiliated companies, Gaz-Alyans and Vneshtorgservis, despite being aware of the U.S. sanctions against them. The duo failed to obtain the necessary licenses from OFAC for these transactions, which involved transferring over $150 million to the sanctioned entities.
Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division announced the sentencing of the two individuals.
The investigation into this case was conducted by the FBI Tampa and Washington Field Offices, with assistance from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The prosecution was led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Chauncey A. Bratt, Trial Attorney Emma Ellenrieder of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, and Trial Attorneys Sean O’Dowd and Sean Fern of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section.
This case was part of the efforts of the Justice Department’s Task Force KleptoCapture, aimed at enforcing sanctions and economic countermeasures in response to Russia’s military actions in Ukraine.