A quiet New Hampshire home from which a married couple secretly ran their online craft business served as a clearinghouse for “millions of dollars in military and sensitive dual-use technology from American manufacturers and suppliers”, which ‘an alleged smuggling ring has been shipping to Russia for at least five years, according to a sweeping 16-count federal indictment released Tuesday.
Alexey Brayman, one of seven people charged in the case, surrendered to authorities on Tuesday morning, according to The Boston Globe. Prosecutors have asked that he surrender his passport and be held on $250,000 bail.
“They are the nicest family,” a local delivery driver told the World of Brayman and his wife, Daria. “They will leave gift cards during the holidays. And snacks.
Federal investigators say Brayman and his accomplices worked for the “Serniya” syndicate, a supply chain whose activities they described as “instrumental in the war machine of the Russian Federation” in the indictment. The suburban Merrimack home where Brayman lived was “repeatedly used” as a way station where military-grade, dual-use technology was packaged and shipped to middlemen across Europe and Asia, wrote officials.
Brayman is a lawful permanent resident of the United States, according to the filing, as is Vadim Yermolenko, a 41-year-old New Jersey man also arrested on Tuesday for the alleged scheme. The other four people named in the indictment, all Russian nationals, include Vadim Konoshchenok, 48, who was detained in Estonia earlier this month.
An alleged agent of the FSB, the main Russian security agency and direct descendant of the KGB, Konoshchenok should be extradited to the United States, announced the Ministry of Justice. in a report. Estonian investigators searched his warehouse and found approximately 375 pounds of ammunition from the United States
Yevgeniy Grinin, 44, Aleksey Ippolitov, 57, Svetlana Skvortsova, 41, and Boris Livshits, 52, all remained free on Tuesday.
Beginning in 2017, according to the indictment, Livshits purchased millions of dollars worth of electronic components, many of which are highly sensitive and heavily regulated due to their military capabilities, from US companies. Often using the pseudonym “David Wetzky”, Livshits allegedly misled companies about how their products would be used and who would use them. He then dispatched them to the Braymans’ home, while other agents conspired to move large amounts of cash, often through international front companies, to cover the trail.
“They received a lot of packages,” a neighbor told the World Tuesday, “which I guess makes sense now.”
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