Montreal Woman Guilty Laundering Brooklyn Dual Use Cash

A Montreal woman pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy for her role in a multimillion-dollar scheme to send components used in unnamed aerial vehicles (UAVs) and guided missile systems and other weapons to sanctioned entities in Russia.  The components shipped in violation of export control and sanctions laws were later found in Russian weapons platforms and signals intelligence equipment in Ukraine. 

Last October, a criminal complaint was unsealed, and a Brooklyn, New York, resident and two Canadian nationals were arrested in connection with a global procurement scheme in which the defendants used two corporate entities registered in Brooklyn to unlawfully source and purchase dual-use electronics on behalf of end-users in Russia, including companies affiliated with the Russian military.

Kristina Puzyreva, 32,  faces up to twenty years in prison.  Prosecution against the other defendants remains pending.

“Kristina Puzyreva and her co-defendants allegedly purchased and dispatched millions of dollars in U.S.-sourced electronics to support the Kremlin in its ongoing attacks of Ukraine. Her money laundering conspiracy was directly linked to 298 shipments of restricted technology, valued at $7 million, to the Russian battlefield,” said HSI New York Acting Special Agent in Charge Erin Keegan. 

“Following the money is a law enforcement imperative.  This defendant laundered money on behalf of several Brooklyn front companies to ship U.S.-origin electronics to sanctioned entities in Russia,” said Matthew S. Axelrod, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Enforcement. 

As alleged in the indictment and other court filings, the defendant laundered money as part of a sophisticated export control and sanctions evasion scheme involving SH Brothers Inc. (SH Brothers) and SN Electronics, Inc. (SN Electronics), two companies registered in Brooklyn, New York.  Using the SH Brothers and SN Electronics corporate entities, the defendant’s co-conspirators unlawfully sourced, purchased and shipped millions of dollars in dual-use electronics from U.S. manufacturers to end users, including sanctioned entities, in Russia. 

The electronic components and integrated circuits shipped were later found in seized Russian weapons platforms and signals intelligence equipment in Ukraine, including in UAVs and guided missiles.  During the period charged in the indictment, SH Brothers made hundreds of shipments valued at over $7 million to Russia. 

Puzyreva and her husband, co-defendant Nikolay Goltsev, traveled on multiple occasions from Canada to meet with their co-defendant Salimdzhon Nasriddinov in Brooklyn.  During such trips, Puzyreva utilized numerous bank accounts to make financial transactions in furtherance of the scheme.  For example, Puzyreva is the signatory on two New York accounts, including one that lists Nasriddinov’s home address in Brooklyn (also the registered address of SH Brothers) as the address of record.  

Records for these accounts reflect large, structured cash deposits in Brooklyn and Manhattan that correspond with trips that Puzyreva and Goltsev made to New York.  These deposits were then transferred to accounts held and used by Puzyreva and Goltsev in Canada.

The scheme involved millions of dollars in transactions and was lucrative for the defendants.  For example, in a text message exchange on or about January 13, 2023, Goltsev complained to Puzyreva that a co-conspirator “asked me to make 80 accounts . . . I am making accounts for 3 mln [i.e., million].  Fingers hurting already from the laptop.”  Puzyreva responded, “Lot of money?  We will get rich.”  

Later, on or about January 20, 2023, Goltsev messaged Puzyreva, “Dasha (a co-conspirator) paid. 700k.”  Notably, financial records revealed wire transfers totaling approximately $700,000 into an SH Brothers account in or around January 2023 from a Hong Kong-based entity as part of an order for a sanctioned Russian entity.

The government seized $20,000 in cash from the New York hotel room in which the defendant was arrested.  In total, the government has seized approximately $1.68 million dollars in connection with this export scheme.

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 23-CR-452