Smuggled Snow Machines Seized

Two men have been indicted and 17 snow machines seized as law enforcement broke up a scheme to ship the equipment to Russia by way of Hong Kong.   Sergey Nefedov, 40, of Anchorage, Alaska, and Mark Shumovich, 35, of Bellevue, Washington, were arrested June 11.  Both are Russian nationals and naturalized US Citizens.

As alleged in the indictment, between at least March 2022 and May 2023, Nefedov and Shumovich conspired with individuals doing business in Russia and Hong Kong to evade the U.S. export restrictions that were imposed on luxury goods to Russia pursuant to Executive Order 14068 following Russia’s full-scale, unlawful invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, by shipping snowmachines and associated parts to Russia through an intermediary company in Hong Kong.

According to the indictment, Nefedov and Shumovich told freight forwarders that the snowmachines would be going to Hong Kong, where they knew that a license was not required for export, thereby causing a freight forwarder to provide false information to U.S. authorities by concealing the end user and destination of the snowmachines.

Authorities seized all snowmachines related to this case. Nefedov and Shumovich are charged the following offenses, which carry associated maximum penalties as follows: conspiracy to unlawfully export goods from the United States and defraud the United States (five years in prison); false electronic export information activities (five years in prison); smuggling (10 years in prison); unlawful export without a license in violation of the Export Control Reform Act (20 years in prison); and conspiracy to commit international money laundering (20 years in prison). Nefedov is also charged with money laundering and making a false statement in violation of the Export Control Reform Act, which both carry maximum penalties of 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The FBI, HSI and Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security Office of Export Enforcement are investigating the case.

[Indictment]