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The U.S. Department of Justice announced another critical arrest of a second alleged conspirator who violated Russia-Ukraine sanctions.
“Sergey Karpushkin, 46, of Miami and a citizen of Belarus, has been arrested and charged by a federal criminal complaint with engaging in a scheme to violate U.S. sanctions against oligarch Sergey Kurchenko and two related companies by purchasing over $150 million in steelmaking materials. Karpushkin’s alleged co-conspirator, John C. Unsalan, 41, of Orlando, was indicted by a federal grand jury for the same scheme on April 12, and was arrested on April 14 on related charges,” the DOJ said in a press release.
“According to court documents, Kurchenko was sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in 2015 for his role in misappropriating Ukrainian state assets or economically significant entities. The two sanctioned companies – Kompaniya Gaz-Alyans, OOO (Gaz-Alyans), based in the Russian Federation, and ZAO Vneshtorgservis (Vneshtorgservis), based in the unrecognized territory of South Ossetia – were designated by OFAC in 2018 for acting on behalf of and providing material support to the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic in the separatist-controlled regions of eastern Ukraine,” the press release added.
“The complaint charges Karpushkin with one count of conspiring to violate and evade U.S. sanctions, in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The indictment against Unsalan charges him with one count of conspiring to violate and evade U.S. sanctions, in violation of the IEEPA; 10 counts of violating the IEEPA; one count of conspiring to commit international money laundering; and 10 counts of international money laundering. If convicted, Karpushkin and Unsalan each face up to 20 years in federal prison on each count with which they are charged. Unsalan made his initial appearance in federal court on April 17, and has been detained pending further court proceedings. Karpushkin made his initial appearance in federal court this afternoon and was also detained,” the statement added.
In a separate case, the DOJ and FBI announced on Monday it has evidence of expanding espionage and security activity by the Chinese government on American soil.
The DOJ announced said in a press release that it had three cases suggesting more brazen activity by China inside the U.S. after several Chinese spy balloons were discovered and flew over the United States earlier this year.
Ten Chinese officials have been charged with conspiracy along with an employee of a telecommunications company. One of the more concerning cases involves Chinese security officials allegedly spying on Zoom calls and then harassing Chinese dissident participants identified as targets.
“A complaint was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, charging two defendants in connection with opening and operating an illegal overseas police station, located in lower Manhattan, New York, for a provincial branch of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). “Harry” Lu Jianwang, 61, of the Bronx, and Chen Jinping, 59, of Manhattan, were arrested earlier this morning at their homes in New York City. Their initial appearances are scheduled this afternoon in Brooklyn before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ramon E. Reyes Jr,” the DOJ announced in a press release.
“As alleged in the complaint, Lu and Chen are charged with conspiring to act as agents of the PRC government as well as obstructing justice by destroying evidence of their communications with an MPS official. The defendants worked together to establish the first overseas police station in the United States on behalf of the Fuzhou branch of the MPS. The police station – which closed in the fall of 2022 after those operating it became aware of the FBI’s investigation – occupied a floor in an office building in Manhattan’s Chinatown. While acting under the direction and control of an MPS Official, Lu and Chen helped open and operate the clandestine police station. None of the participants in the scheme informed the U.S. government that they were helping the PRC government surreptitiously open and operate an illegal MPS police station on U.S. soil,” the press release added.
Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division said in a statement: “The PRC, through its repressive security apparatus, established a secret physical presence in New York City to monitor and intimidate dissidents and those critical of its government. The PRC’s actions go far beyond the bounds of acceptable nation-state conduct. We will resolutely defend the freedoms of all those living in our country from the threat of authoritarian repression.”
Two Arrested for Operating Illegal Overseas Police Station of the Chinese Government
Defendants Are New York City Residents Who Allegedly Operated the Police Station in Lower Manhattan and Destroyed Evidence When Confronted by the FBIhttps://t.co/vvLmSJgOmt
— National Security Division, U.S. Dept of Justice (@DOJNatSec) April 17, 2023
“In October 2022, the FBI conducted a judicially authorized search of the illegal police station. In connection with the search, FBI agents interviewed both Lu and Chen and seized their phones. In reviewing the contents of these phones, FBI agents observed that communications between Lu and Chen, on the one hand, and the MPS Official, on the other, appeared to have been deleted. In subsequent consensual interviews, Lu and Chen admitted to the FBI that they had deleted their communications with the MPS Official after learning about the ongoing FBI investigation, thus preventing the FBI from learning the full extent of the MPS’s directions for the overseas police station,” the DOJ said.
