A second Russian Montrealer is set to plead guilty in New York to illegally conspiring to ship $13.9 million worth of restricted technology to the Russian military, Global News has learned.
The DOJ alleges that Russia later used these smuggled and restricted electronic devices in military hardware that attacked and killed Ukrainian soldiers during the illegal incursion, including Russian Ka-52 attack helicopters, T-72B3 main battle tanks, and Orlan-10 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Court documents show that an attorney representing Nikolay Gortsev of Bellevue, Sainte-Anne, on Montreal's West Island, has requested a hearing in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn) at which Gortsev plans to change his plea.
Gortsev was arrested in New York in late October but has pleaded not guilty to charges of participating in a complex, transnational scheme to ship restricted technology components to the Kremlin through front companies and third countries, as well as participating in a money laundering conspiracy.
Requesting a plea hearing is a legal step in a U.S. criminal case, usually after the defendant and prosecutor negotiate and reach a plea agreement. Then both parties reach an agreement and jointly submit the agreement to the judge for discussion and approval.
This winter, Goltsev’s wife, Kristina Puzyreva, entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors, admitting to one of the seven charges she faced. She admitted to participating in a money laundering conspiracy involving frequent travel and money transfers between Montreal and New York.
In another bench trial in February, a transcript showed Puzyleva confessing her guilt: “I agreed with others to deposit the money, cash, into a bank account opened by me, knowing that the cash was the proceeds of illegal export… I knew it was illegal, but I still did it.”
Kristina Puzyreva, a Russian-Canadian Montrealer, pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy charges and will be sentenced in July.
Kristina Puzyreva/Bigbookname.com
Puzyreva, a former employee of Montreal clothing manufacturer and distributor The Thread Collective Inc. and a representative of the Psycho Bunny clothing brand, is scheduled to be sentenced July 24, court records show.
Puzyreva's plea agreement states she will be sentenced to 18 to 24 months in prison and a fine of $500,000 or more, but the trial judge is not bound by those figures.
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A court document and records obtained by Global News outline the specific details of her sentence and guilty plea.
The company confirmed that Puzyreva lost her job in Montreal due to her involvement in the New York case.
Over the past few years, Nikolay Goltsev and Kristina Puzyreva have traveled around the world, including this trip to Milan, allegedly involved in the illegal shipment of banned electronics to Russian military contractors.
As Goltsev was set to be heard, U.S. prosecutors also revealed they had seized another $650,000 in alleged criminal proceeds from members of the conspiracy. They plan to seek a court order for Goltsev and other associates in the alleged scheme to forfeit the money, which adds to the $2 million prosecutors had already seized.
Gortsev and other members of the gang are accused of using aliases such as “Nick Stevens” or “Gio Ross” to purchase electronic components from U.S. manufacturers and distributors through front companies called SH Brothers and SN Electronics.
They arranged for couriers to deliver the items to various locations in Brooklyn.
Goltsev and other conspiracy members then allegedly repackaged and reshipped the items to various shell companies located in third countries, including Turkey, Hong Kong, India, China, and the United Arab Emirates.
Prosecutors allege that middlemen then illegally passed them on to Russian military contractors.
Other Russian military systems found to contain restricted components include the Product 305E light multi-purpose guided missile system and the Vitebsk L370 airborne anti-missile system.
Some illegally exported parts were also found inside the RB-301B Borisoglebsk-2 electronic warfare system, known as the Torn-MDM radio reconnaissance system, court documents said.
U.S. prosecutors allege that Goltsev and his co-defendants conducted business dealings while Puzyreva operated multiple bank accounts and conducted financial transactions to carry out their scheme.
In text messages with her husband obtained by U.S. investigators, Puzyreva boasted about the huge amounts of money they were making from the electronics smuggling scheme.
Kristina Puzyreva and Nikolay Goltsev lived in the house in St. Anne de Bellevue, owned by Goltsev, before they were arrested in New York last fall.
Global News/Andrew McIntosh
Puzyreva's lawyer sent a letter to the court asking for an expedited sentencing hearing.
Her attorney, Jeff Chabrol, said the sentencing report prepared for her case stressed that “Ms. Puzyreva grew up in a home with an extremely violent father and her co-defendant/husband, Nikolay Goltsev, exercised insane control over her in the years following their divorce.
marriage, especially in the last few years.”
Chabrowe added: “All of these factors may be relevant to sentence modification or even prison time served.”
The judge told Puzyreva that she would face deportation from the United States upon her release from prison.
The case was investigated by the FBI, the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Department of Homeland Security Investigations.
andrew.mcintosh@corusent.com
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