WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) – A 56-year-old Olathe man pleaded guilty on Tuesday for his role in a scheme that involved illegally exporting technology to Russia.
The United States Department of Justice said Douglas Edward Robertson, the former vice president of Kan Rus Trading Company, Inc. pleaded guilty on Friday to his part “in a years-long conspiracy to circumvent U.S. export laws by filing false export forms with the U.S. government and, after Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, continuing to sell and export sophisticated and controlled avionics equipment to customers in Russia without the required licenses from the U.S. Department of Commerce.”
“Robertson, by his own admission, conspired to sell advanced U.S. avionics equipment to Russian customers in violation of U.S. law,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew G. Olsen. “The Justice Department will not tolerate those who seek to undermine the effectiveness of export controls that protect critical U.S. technology and deter Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.”
Court documents said that as part of his guilty plea, Robertson admitted that between 2020 and his arrest in March 2023, he conspired with others, including co-defendants Cyril Gregory Buyanovsky of Lawrence, Kansas, and Oleg Chistyakov, aka Olegs Čitsjakovs, of Riga, Latvia, to smuggle U.S.-origin avionics equipment to end users in Russia, as well as Russian end users in other countries.
The Justice Department said this involved knowingly falsifying export forms and failing to file required export forms with the U.S. government.
“In these forms, Robertson and his conspirators lied about the exports’ value, end users, and end destinations,” the Justice Department said.
You can read the Justice Department’s full news release revisiting the case and its developments here: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/vice-president-kansas-company-pleads-guilty-crimes-related-scheme-illegally-export-us.
As a result of his guilty plea, Robertson faces up to five years in prison for a conspiracy count and 20 years for each of two counts connected with the Export Control Reform Act and 20 years for a count of money laundering.
The Justice Department said a sentencing hearing in Robertson’s case is set for Oct. 3.
Copyright 2024 KWCH. All rights reserved. To report a correction or typo, please email news@kwch.com