The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has indicted three employees of a US aircraft parts supplier for allegedly exporting aircraft components to a Russian airline in violation of US sanctions.
Flighttime Enterprises, a US subsidiary of a Russia aviation parts company, and the three employees “violated and evaded the export restrictions imposed on Russia to ship aviation parts to Russia and Russian end users, including airlines”, the DOJ said on 13 February.
The USA imposed the export restrictions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Flighttime “has continued to ship aviation parts and equipment to Russia and Russian end users, knowingly violating and evading those export restrictions by mislabelling shipments, providing false certifications and using intermediary companies and countries to obfuscate the true end destination and end users,” says the DOJ’s indictment, filed on 12 February with US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
Flighttime, which has offices in Miami and Ohio, could not be reached for comment.
The company allegedly shipped components including an auxiliary power unit and low-pressure turbines to Russia in violation of US law, doing so by first sending the products through places such as Armenia, Dubai and the Maldives, the indictment alleges.
The DOJ has charged the company and three employees with violating the US Export Control Reform Act, and with smuggling.
The DOJ does not name the Russian company that owns Flighttime but says the parent, on its website, describes itself as “among three major private suppliers in the market of Russian aviation spares, blocks and units and their maintenance”.
That same description is found on the website of Russian aircraft supplier Aviahelp Group.
