Gal Haimovich, a 49-year-old Israeli national, has been sentenced to two years in prison and three years of supervised release for his role in a conspiracy to illegally export aircraft parts and avionics from the United States to Russia. This scheme involved providing goods to sanctioned Russian airline companies. In addition to his prison sentence, Haimovich has paid a forfeiture amount totaling $2,024,435.44.
Haimovich's plea agreement included an admission that he deceived U.S. companies about the true destination of the exported goods. He and others involved in the scheme submitted false information in export documents filed with the U.S. government.
Court documents reveal that Haimovich owned an international freight forwarding company affiliated with a group operating in various countries, including the United States and Israel. Through these companies, he facilitated illegal exports to Russia between March 2022 and May 2023 by using third-party transhippers. These actions violated U.S. export control laws.
During this period, Haimovich arranged over 160 shipments of aircraft parts and avionics with missile technology applications from the United States through Florida to destinations like the Maldives and United Arab Emirates before reaching Russian customers. One notable instance occurred in August 2022 when Haimovich directed a co-conspirator to mislead a U.S. supplier about an air data module's destination, falsely claiming it was bound for the Maldives while it was intended for S7 Airlines in Russia.
The plea agreement also revealed that Haimovich billed Russian clients more than two million dollars for exporting aircraft parts illegally from the United States to Russia. He agreed to a forfeiture money judgment of $2,024,435 and surrendered various aircraft components as part of his plea deal.
U.S. Attorney Hayden P. O’Byrne for the Southern District of Florida announced this case alongside Sue Bai from the Justice Department’s National Security Division, Assistant Secretary Kevin J. Kurland from the Department of Commerce’s Office of Export Enforcement, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), and FBI Assistant Director Kevin Vorndran.
The investigation was conducted by BIS and FBI agents. The prosecution team includes Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Browne for the Southern District of Florida and Trial Attorney Christopher M. Rigali from the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, with asset forfeiture handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Paster.
Further details can be accessed on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida or via their PACER system under case number 24-cr-20374.