Markenzy Lapointe U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida
Gal Haimovich, a 49-year-old Israeli national, has been sentenced to two years in prison and three years of supervised release for his role in conspiring to illegally export aircraft parts and avionics from U.S. manufacturers to Russia. The sentencing also included the payment of $2,024,435.44 as full forfeiture.
Haimovich admitted in his plea agreement that he deceived U.S. companies regarding the final destination of these goods. He submitted false information in export documents filed with the U.S. government to conceal the scheme.
Court documents reveal that Haimovich owned an international freight forwarding company affiliated with other businesses operating in various countries, including the United States and Israel. Between March 2022 and May 2023, he facilitated the illegal export of aircraft parts through Florida to Russian customers by using third-party transhippers.
During this period, after additional U.S. restrictions were imposed following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Haimovich arranged over 160 shipments destined for Russia via countries like the Maldives and United Arab Emirates. In one instance in August 2022, an air data module was falsely declared as destined for the Maldives but was actually intended for S7 Airlines in Russia.
He billed Russian customers more than two million dollars during this time for exporting aircraft parts from the United States to Russia illegally. As part of his plea deal, Haimovich agreed to a forfeiture money judgment totaling $2,024,435 and surrendered various aircraft components.
The announcement was made by several officials: U.S. Attorney Hayden P. O’Byrne for the Southern District of Florida; Sue Bai from the Justice Department’s National Security Division; Kevin J. Kurland from the Department of Commerce’s Office of Export Enforcement; and FBI Assistant Director Kevin Vorndran.
The investigation was conducted by BIS and FBI agents while prosecution efforts were led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Browne and Trial Attorney Christopher M. Rigali with asset forfeiture handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Paster.
For more details on related court documents and information can be accessed at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov under case number 24-cr-20374.
