Israeli broker pleads guilty to using Miami as hub for shipping aircraft parts to Russia

When Russia invaded Ukraine more than two years ago, the United States slapped sanctions on Moscow.

An Israeli businessman ignored them and got into trouble with the feds in South Florida.

On Monday, Gal Haimovich admitted in Miami federal court that he played a central role in an international scheme to ship aircraft parts and electronic equipment from US manufacturers to sanctioned Russian airline companies. Haimovich billed his co-conspirators more than $2 million for arranging the illicit shipments from Miami to Moscow, authorities say.

Haimovich, 42, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit export control and smuggling violations and now faces up to five years in prison at his sentencing before US District Judge Jose Martinez on Nov. 22. As part of his plea agreement, Haimovich admitted deceiving US companies about the true destination of the aircraft supplies — Russia — while submitting false information on export documents to the US government.

According to court documents, Haimovich owned an international freight forwarding company, Control Towers Tel Aviv, which was affiliated with a group of companies that did business in several countries, including the United States and Israel. For example, between April 2022 and April 2023, Haimovich arranged for more than 160 shipments of aircraft parts to companies in the Maldives and United Arab Emirates that in turn sent the illicit supplies to Russia.

Authorities say this is how his scheme unfolded:

A co-conspirator sent an email to Haimovich in late July 2022, directing him to “arrange transportation to Moscow” of an aircraft part called an “air data module,” a sensor that assists an airplane pilot’s navigation. The air data module was restricted by the Commerce Department for “anti-terrorism” reasons, requiring a license for export to Russia.

According to court records, the co-conspirator stated in red highlighted text: “the actual shipper should not know that the cargo is following to Russia!”

The following month, Haimovich instructed a co-conspirator to inform the US vendor that the air data module would be shipped to a company in the Maldives. That August, Haimovich arranged for the part to be sent to its actual destination, Moscow, according to a charging document filed by prosecutors with the US Attorney’s Office.

Then in September 2022, Haimovich attempted to export an aircraft part called an “air data and inertial reference unit,” which supplies information to an airplane pilot’s electronic flight instrument system displays. The Commerce Department also restricted the export of this part for “missile technology” reasons. A co-conspirator sent an e-mail instructing Haimovich to hide from the US vendor that the air data supplies were being shipped from Miami to Moscow.

Through the following month, Haimovich continued to file false paperwork for shipments of aircraft fuel pumps from Miami to Moscow, authorities said.

As part of his plea agreement, Haimovich acknowledged that between March 2022 and May 2023, he billed Siberia Airlines, doing business as S7 Airlines, and other Russian aviation customers more than $2 million for illegally shipping aircraft parts to Moscow.

Court papers note that Haimovich not only falsified US export paperwork but also used a fake name in the transactions: “Yaron Zehavi.”

The Department of Commerce’s Office of Export Enforcement and the FBI investigated the case.