The United States accused Uss's son of selling "oil from Disneyland"

What happened

U.S. prosecutors have charged businessman Artem Uss, son of Krasnoyarsk Territory Governor Alexander Uss, as well as his partner Yuri Orekhov and three other Russians, with violating U.S. sanctions against Russia and Venezuela, illegal dealings with a Russian aluminum company, and money laundering, according to a report from the office of the Eastern District Attorney. New York. Uss was detained on October 17 in Italy, Orekhov - in Germany for subsequent extradition to the States (the status of the other defendants in the case is not specified in the office materials).

“Since at least 2018, defendants Yuri Orekhov and Artem Uss have organized fraudulent schemes, engaged in illegal exports and money laundering operations through NDA GmbH,” the 49-page indictment, which RBC studied, says. “The defendants and their associates engaged in various activities in violation of US laws and regulations, including the illegal export of millions of dollars worth of military and classified dual-use technology from the US to Russia, and used the US financial system to smuggle millions of barrels of oil out of Venezuela.” According to prosecutors, the defendants used an extensive network of shell companies and bank accounts around the world, as well as cryptocurrency and numerous cash transactions, to implement this scheme and launder illegal proceeds.

www.adv.rbc.ru
Advertising 00:00
00:39 / 00:39
You can skip ads through
The lawyer of Artem Uss, who was detained in Italy, at the request of the United States, told RIA Novosti that his client declares his innocence. “He has activities in Italy, that is, he is not passing through here,” the lawyer said.
Alexander Uss also responded to the accusation. He stated that the accusations against his son have an obvious “political coloring”: “The supply of petroleum products, publicly available equipment and technical means, which are freely sold and bought around the world, is suddenly declared illegal by the American authorities. Why? Only because it is done for the good of Russia.”

How the prosecution describes Uss and his "accomplices"

According to the investigation, Artem Uss and Yury Orekhov have each owned 50% of Nord-Deutsche Industrieanlagenbau (NDA GmbH), registered in Hamburg, since at least 2015. She was engaged in trade in industrial equipment and raw materials.

Prior to this, Orekhov was "a purchasing manager for a Russian aluminum company traded on the stock exchange." Its name is not given in the indictment, but it says that this company was under US sanctions from April 2018 until the end of January 2019. The only aluminum producer in Russia whose shares are traded on the stock exchange is UC Rusal, which was under sanctions during the period specified in the documents. UC Rusal did not answer RBC's question whether Yuriy Orekhov was an employee of the company. According to SPARK, Yuri Yuryevich Orekhov (such a middle name is indicated on the website of the US Treasury, which imposed sanctions against the businessman) has been heading the Yenisei Metallurgical Plant (EMZ) since June 2018. The Krasnoyarsk Metallurgical Plant, on whose territory EMZ operates, through Sibmetcom, is owned by the En+ holding, which controls UC Rusal.