A dual Russian-American citizen who ran an electronics company in Texas has admitted in a New York court to illegally supplying controlled microelectronics to Russian military and intelligence agencies over a period of several years, in a case that prosecutors say directly compromised United States national security.
Alexander Fishenko, who operated Houston-based ARC Electronics Inc., pleaded guilty on September 9, 2015 to a series of charges including conspiracy to export controlled technology, money laundering and obstruction of justice. He had originally been charged in October 2012 alongside ten co-conspirators.
Prosecutors said Fishenko used his American company as a front to procure sensitive electronic components — including converters, amplifiers, processors, memory chips and programmable gate arrays — before funnelling them to Moscow-based firm APEX System, which he also part-owned, and its affiliates. Those components were ultimately resold to Russian government agencies, including military and intelligence bodies.
To conceal the operation, Fishenko is alleged to have submitted falsified end-user information to suppliers and provided false export classification codes to avoid triggering scrutiny under American export control laws, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Arms Export Control Act. ARC Electronics publicly presented itself on its website as a manufacturer of light traffic products, while APEX simultaneously removed documentation from its own website that would have revealed its certified supplier relationship with the Russian military.
Assistant Attorney General Carlin said Fishenko had deliberately acted as an unregistered agent of the Russian government on American soil, purposefully circumventing federal law to move militarily sensitive technology out of the country.
The scheme ran from October 2008 through to September 2012, when Fishenko and his associates were arrested. He now faces up to 20 years in prison for each violation of the export control statutes, as well as separate penalties for the money laundering and obstruction charges, and up to ten years for acting as an unregistered foreign agent.
