Russian troops move towards Ukraine on the road near Armiansk, Crimea, 25 February 2022. (Photo: EPA-EFE / STRINGER) Yury Orekhov, co-owner and chief executive officer of Hamburg-based Nord-Deutsche Industrieanlagenbau (NDA), was arrested Monday in Germany, and Artem Uss, the other co-owner of NDA, was arrested in Italy. Orekhov (42) and Uss (40) were among five Russian nationals and two Venezuelan oil traders charged in an indictment unsealed Wednesday in federal court in Brooklyn, New York.
“As alleged, the defendants were criminal enablers for oligarchs, orchestrating a complex scheme to unlawfully obtain US military technology and Venezuelan sanctioned oil through a myriad transactions involving shell companies and cryptocurrency,” Brooklyn US Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement. “Their efforts undermined security, economic stability and rule of law around the world.”
The US alleges Orkehov and Uss used NDA as a front to purchase sensitive military and dual-use technologies from US manufacturers, including advanced semiconductors and microprocessors used in fighter aircraft, missile systems, smart munitions, satellites and other military applications. According to the US, the items were then shipped to Russia, and some of the same technology was found in Russian weapons seized in Ukraine.
Orekhov and Uss also allegedly used NDA to smuggle hundreds of millions of barrels of oil from Venezuela to Russian and Chinese purchasers, including a Russian aluminium company controlled by a sanctioned oligarch and the world’s largest oil refining, gas and petrochemical conglomerate based in Beijing. The two Venezuelans charged in the case allegedly brokered deals for the oil between NDA and Petróleos de Venezuela, the state-owned oil company, using shell companies to disguise the transactions.
In a communication with one of the Venezuelan traders cited in the indictment, Orekhov allegedly openly admitted that he was acting on behalf of a sanctioned Russian oligarch, saying “He is under sanctions as well. That’s why we [are] acting from this company [NDA]. As fronting.”