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Sam Bhambhani was charged in an indictment with working with a
Russian citizen who resold laser equipment to the Russian
government. It alleges they used falsified export documents to
conceal the true end-user of the machines from the U.S.
government.
Bhambhani, a resident of North Attleboro, Massachusetts, was
released on a personal recognizance bond after pleading not
guilty to conspiracy and smuggling charges during a court
hearing in Boston. A defense lawyer did not respond to a request
for comment.
According to the indictment, Bhambhani was employed as a
salesman for a global supplier of laser equipment used for
welding, marking, cutting, deep engraving and motion systems
with facilities in Rhode Island and Florida.
The equipment was sold from 2015 to 2021 to a subsidiary of
Rosatom in Yekaterinburg, Russia, that produced components for
nuclear munitions and various civilian goods, according to the
indictment.
Charging documents allege that Bhambhani at times discussed with
the alleged reseller, a Russian citizen named Maxim Teslenko,
the need to find ways to get around U.S. export controls to make
sales possible.
"Also, we will have to figure out the shipment and invoicing as
now there are too many controls put on export to Russia.
"Politics!," he wrote to Teslenko in 2020, according to the
indictment.
The U.S. government has restricted the ability of companies to
export items that Russia could use in its defense, aerospace,
and maritime industries even further following Russia's invasion
of Ukraine in February 2022.
Teslenko also was charged in the indictment. He resides in
Moscow and was not in U.S. custody, according to court records.
A defense lawyer could not be identified.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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