When the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on three companies owned by Denis Postovoy on Wednesday, it was a new measure aimed at dismantling what US authorities consider an international plan to violate sanctions.
A month earlier, on September 16, law enforcement arrested the 44-year-old Russian national in Sarasota, Florida.
He was charged with conspiracy to violate sanctions against Russia, smuggling, money laundering and defrauding the United States.
According to the indictment, Postovoy used an international network of companies to export dual-use microelectronic components from the United States to Russia – potentially replacement parts for military drones used in the Kremlin’s war against Russia. ‘Ukraine.
Postovoy is not the first Russian accused of violating U.S. export controls. But he is one of the few to have done it from the United States.
Using court documents and open source information, VOA pieced together Postovoy’s story, revealing a story involving international trade, criminal charges in two countries, a U.S. startup and real estate in Florida.
Postovoy has pleaded not guilty to all charges. If convicted, he faces decades in prison.
Postovoy is in pre-trial detention and could not be reached for comment. His lawyer did not respond to a request for comment from VOA. When VOA contacted Postovoy’s wife by phone, she hung up. She did not respond to questions sent to her on the messaging app WhatsApp.
According to the latest court filings, Postovoy’s case has been transferred to the U.S. District Court in Washington.
American fees
After Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the United States significantly expanded restrictions on the export of microelectronic products to Russia.
The Justice Department accused Postovoy and several unnamed co-conspirators of using a network of companies under their control in Hong Kong, Switzerland and Russia to violate those sanctions.
It claims Postovoy misrepresented the buyers and destinations of the goods, routing them through Hong Kong, Switzerland, Turkey and Estonia.
“As alleged, he lied about the final destination of the technology he was shipping and used intermediate destinations to mask this illegal activity,” U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves said in a press release. “Fortunately, our skilled law enforcement partners at HSI (Homeland Security Investigations) and our dedicated attorneys foiled the plot.”
The prosecution says Postovoy’s clients included the Russian company Streloi Ekommerts and other joint-stock companies. According to the indictment, the contract with Streloi was concluded before the company was added to the US sanctions list in December 2023.
An investigation by Radio Europe Libre/Radio Liberté found that Streloi actively helps Russia circumvent Western export restrictions.
Another recipient of the microelectronics, according to an invoice attached to the filing, was Russian technology company Radius Avtomatika.
Neither company responded to VOA’s emailed questions.
It is unclear whether the microelectronic components allegedly exported by Postovoy were ultimately used in drones, but a court document indicates that the people he contacted were members of the Russian military-industrial complex.
History of Hong Kong
Originally from Novosibirsk, Russia, Postovoy had lived in Hong Kong since at least 2010 with his wife – a Ukrainian citizen from Crimea – and their three children.
Shipping records indicate his companies were involved in exporting goods from Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, to Russia. Prosecutors say that after the United States expanded its sanctions, some of these activities became illegal.
When the DOJ announced Postovoy’s arrest, it also listed the names of his companies that it said were involved in the alleged scheme. Apart from the Russian company Vektor Group, all the others were in Hong Kong: Jove HK Limited, JST Group Hong Kong and WowCube HK Limited.
All are now under US sanctions, with the exception of WowCube HK Limited.
Its appearance in the indictment prompted a swift response from Cubios, another company previously associated with Postovoy. It produces the WOWCube game console, which resembles a Rubik’s cube with multiple screens.
Just a day after Postovoy’s arrest was announced, Cubios publicly denied any connection to WowCube HK Limited.
“Neither Cubios nor any of its officers, directors, officers or employees… have any connection whatsoever with the Hong Kong entity. We do not own, operate or are in any way affiliated with the Hong Kong entity,” the company said in a statement. on its website.
The startup also said Postovoy “falsely listed himself as vice president of the company” on LinkedIn.
In fact, Postovoy was previously Cubios’ vice president of production, according to archived versions of his website.
Ilya Osipov, CEO of Cubios, told VOA that a mutual friend introduced him to Postovoy.
“I was looking for someone who could help with production in China – they gave me Denis,” he wrote in a message to VOA.
According to Osipov, Postovoy became a business partner and made significant contributions to the prototypes and test batches of the WOWCube. Later, the company decreased its cooperation with him.
Although Postovoy does not have an official position, Cubios allowed him to call himself vice president of production “for business purposes,” Osipov told VOA.
He claimed that Postovoy founded the Hong Kong company without Cubios’ permission. There were plans to become a distributor of the consoles in Asia, but this was never realized, Osipov said.
Coming to America
In 2022, Postovoy and his family moved to Sarasota, Florida, where Cubios is headquartered.
According to Osipov, Postovoy said the decision was motivated by a desire to raise children in a Western country and concerns about China’s increasingly tight control over Hong Kong.
U.S. prosecutors see a different motivation.
In response to US federal investigators included in the case documents, Hong Kong police said Postovoy was charged on March 1, 2022, with money laundering – a crime punishable by up to 14 years. years in prison and a fine of up to $643,000.
According to the email, Postovoy was scheduled to appear in court on March 4 but left Hong Kong the day before.
Hong Kong police did not respond to VOA’s request for comment.
In June 2022, Postovoy’s wife purchased a home in southeast Sarasota.
Sarasota County land records indicate the home was valued at approximately $980,000. A mortgage covered $680,000 of the cost.
In August 2023, Postovoy purchased another home, in the new Rivo Lakes gated community in Sarasota. According to purchasing documents, the cost was $1.13 million. In September, he transferred it to a trust controlled by his wife.
The same day, his wife transferred the house to another trust and subsequently sold the property.
Postovoy’s decision to transfer the second house into a trust was likely an attempt to conceal his ownership, according to a U.S. district judge.
He “failed to list his home – which is valued at nearly $1 million and held in the name of a trust controlled by his wife – on his financial affidavit submitted to this Court,” the judge wrote in a decision not to grant bail to Postovoy. .
This may not be the only cover-up in this matter: Russian company records indicate that in December 2023, a man named Dmitry Smirnov replaced Postovoy as owner of his group company Vektor.
VOA’s Cantonese Service contributed research to this story.
