Gabrielle Russon
A Broward County businessman is accused of illegally smuggling technology to help Russia’s war in Ukraine, federal court records show.
Kirill Gordei, a Belarus citizen who is the President of the Hallandale Beach-based Apelsin Logistics, is accused of exporting a mass spectrometer valued at $600,000 that is used to speed up scientific discoveries. The device can detect chemicals, explosives and narcotic compounds.
Gordei was indicted on multiple federal charges, including conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States. He was arrested last month in Florida and is scheduled to be arraigned in Massachusetts.
The spectrometer was on a list of banned technology that could only be sent to Russia with a license after the United States added stricter export rules in 2022 following the Russian invasion.
“Freight forwarders play an outsized role in the export of items overseas and, accordingly, are expected to help uphold the law rather than subvert it,” said Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement Matthew Axelrod in a statement.
“Here, Kirill Gordei — the president of a freight forwarding company — is alleged to have willfully evaded restrictions designed to degrade the Russian war machine by obfuscating the value and ultimate destination of a mass spectrometer.”
Gordei’s attorney did not respond immediately Tuesday to a request for comment.
The federal government accused Gordei of lying about the device’s value and its final destination as he pretended to ship it to Uzbekistan when in reality, it was sent to Moscow last year.
The spectrometer “delivers high data quality and versatility to accelerate scientific discovery for academic and industry research and government and omics laboratories.”
“As alleged, Gordei defrauded U.S. government export regulators and smuggled advanced scientific technology to Russian customers, placing personal profit over national security,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
“The Justice Department will use every available tool to disrupt illicit supply chains used to illegally funnel sophisticated technologies to Russia and other hostile powers.”
