An Olathe man will serve more than two years in federal prison for smuggling advanced aviation technology into Russia.
On June 9, Douglas Edward Robertson, 58, of Olathe, was sentenced in the U.S. District Court of Kansas in Kansas City, Kansas, to 32 months in federal prison for export control and money laundering violations.
A former vice president of KanRus Trading Company Inc., Robertson pleaded guilty to the two charges in July 2024 for circumventing the U.S.’s newly tightened export controls to Russia, following the country’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
In his plea, Robertson admitted two co-defendants and he continued buying, selling and exporting controlled avionics equipment, or electronic systems and accessories used on aircrafts, spacecrafts and satellites, to customers in Russia without required U.S. Department of Commerce licenses.
“The U.S. changed trade restrictions with Russia after its invasion of Ukraine for a reason. These defendants put money over country and considered themselves more clever than Customs officials. They thought they could circumvent the restrictions without being detected, but they were wrong,” U.S. Attorney Ryan A. Kriegshauser said in a press release.
Judge Daniel D. Crabtree presided over the case.
Robertson lied about selling goods to Russia
Between 2020 and March 2023, Robertson, as well as two co-defendants, smuggled avionics goods to Russia by failing to file required export forms, filing false export forms and exporting goods to Russia through third-party countries, like Armenia, the United Arab
Emirates, and Cyprus, according to court records.
Payments for the goods were also circumvented through banks outside of Russia, including in Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
The federal government seized 86 items from the company’s hangar, located in New Century, including Garmin-branded avionics equipment and accessories, like a Doppler weather antennae, weather radar transreceiver and altitude indicator, as well as a pallet of other avionics gear, according to court records.
Robertson was arrested in 2023.
1 co-defendant still awaits sentencing
A co-defendant, Oleg Chistyakov, 56, of Latvia, was sentenced to 28 months after pleading guilty for acting as a broker for KanRus.
Cyril Gregory Buyanovsky, 63, of Lawrence, the former president and owner of KanRus, is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to conspiracy and money laundering. He also agreed to forfeit more than $450,000 in avionics equipment and accessories.
The federal government considers Robertson’s conviction a warning to other people attempting to circumvent the U.S.’s customs laws, Chris Ormerod, FBI Kansas City Special Agent in Charge, said in a press release.
“Robertson’s fraudulent actions were willful and substantial. The sentencing should provide assurance to the public: the FBI will investigate and arrest those who wish to violate our nation’s laws,” he said.
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