A Florida man pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring to illegally export military devices to a Russian customer.
Vladimir Nevidomy, 31, of Hallandale Beach, Florida, had planned to send military-grade, night-vision and thermal-vision rifle scopes along with munition primers to Russia, prosecutors allege. All of those devices are banned from being exported by the U.S. State Department.
From April 2013 through November 2013, customers in Russia contacted Nevidomy, a Ukrainian national who became a naturalized U.S. citizen, to purchase the devices, according to court documents. He proceeded to obtain the equipment from U.S. vendors by falsely representing to vendors that the items were not for export, prosecutors allege.
After Nevidomy received the devices, he exported them to an individual in Russia by concealing them as household goods sent through a freight forwarding company or using a private Russian postal service that operated in South Florida, according to court papers. He received a wire transfer from Shanghai bank account for $11,755 for the purchase of two night-vision rifle scopes on April 16, 2013, and on the same day paid $9,599 to a U.S. vendor for the same equipment.
Night-vision rifle scopes, thermal monocular and ammunition primers require a license and other authorization from the U.S. Department of State before they can be exported from the U.S. Prosecutors said that neither Nevidomy nor his associates ever applied or attempted to apply for an export license from the State Department.
Sentencing is scheduled before U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, on May 25. If convicted, he could face maximum of five years in prison.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Thakur and Rick Del Toro of the Southern District of Florida, and trial attorney Christian Ford of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.
