California couple fined and jailed for illegal exports

Naum and Irina Morgovsky used their company to ship unlicensed infrared and thermal devices to Russia, a violation of the Arms Export Control Act.    The Justice Department said a California couple will pay fines, as well as serve jail time, for their role in facilitating illegal exports of night vision and thermal devices to Russia.
   Naum Morgovsky, 69, of Hillsborough, Calif., was sentenced to nine years in prison and three years of supervised release for the exports, a violation of the Arms Export Control Act, and for money laundering to hide the scheme.
   The District Court for the Northern District of California also ordered Naum Morgovsky to pay a fine $1 million and assessed a forfeiture of $222,929.61, along with three night vision devices seized by investigators.
   On Oct. 31, Naum Morgovsky’s wife and co-conspirator, Irina Morgovsky, 67, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for her role in the export conspiracy.
   During their court appearances this summer, the couple admitted that from April 2012 to Aug. 25, 2016, they conspired to export without the necessary licenses to Moscow-based Infratech numerous night and thermal vision components, including image intensifier tubes and lenses. These U.S.-made items are controlled under the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls U.S. Munitions List for national security reasons.
   According to the Justice Department, the couple used their U.S. business, Hitek International, to purchase these components and misrepresented to the sellers that the products would not be exported. The couple then shipped the products to Russia using a variety of front companies and shipment methods. 
   The couple will begin serving their respective sentences on Jan. 4.