By admin 
A federal court in Boston convicted Kirill Gordei, a Hallandale Beach businessman, of smuggling an advanced scientific instrument worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from Los Angeles to Russia.
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Gordei, 37, is a dual citizen of the United States and Belarus, an eastern neighbor and ally of Russia, according to the Justice Department.
A grand jury Gordei in 2024 for falsifying export documents and facilitating the shipment of a $600,000 mass spectrometer, an instrument used in chemical and nuclear research.
The spectrometer, manufactured by a company headquartered in Massachusetts, is subject to export controls implemented by the Biden administration in 2023 to curb Russia’s military effort in Ukraine and for “nuclear proliferation reasons,” an filed by an investigator with the U.S. Commerce Department in Gordei’s federal case states.
In August 2023, Gordei allegedly coordinated with an unnamed Russian individual who instructed him on what to do and kept him abreast of U.S. export rules. In one email, he asked Gordei to falsify the name of the Los Angeles company from which the instrument was purchased.
“If reported or detected by US Customs, the purchaser can be fined and every export we make may likely be inspected,” he wrote to Gordei. “We have decided to change the name of the exporter as a precaution to avoid verification.”
Gordei then allegedly falsified documents to state that a New Jersey company was exporting the spectrometer. He also stated in export records that the ultimate destination of the instrument was Uzbekistan via Istanbul when, in fact, it was shipped to a chemical company based in Moscow.
“Mr. Gordei went to great lengths to evade U.S. export controls, falsifying the destination of controlled technology and routing it through Turkey before sending it to Russia,” said Massachusetts U.S Attorney Leah B. Foley. “We will continue to hold those who deliberately circumvent export controls accountable.”
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Other allegations
A separate notification issued by the Commerce Department notes that Gordei and his Broward company, Apelsin Logistics, which coordinates shipping operations, had attempted to circumvent U.S. sanctions and export controls and facilitate the transfer of diesel engines and aircraft parts in 2023.
The notification alleges that in at least one of these instances, Gordei used a Miami-based firm. It does not name the company.
The shipments were listed as being bound for Dubai but were actually destined for firms like Serbian company AvioChem — sanctioned by the United Kingdom for its involvement in the Russian transport sector — and S7 Engineering, an aviation maintenance company sanctioned by the U.S. since 2024.
The Commerce Department noted that its investigation found that Gordei and the network of firms had been involved in exports or attempts to ship goods worth $1.2 million that were either sent to Russia or suspected to be destined for Russia.
The grand jury indicted Gordei for aiding and abetting the smuggling of goods from the U.S., violation of export control laws and “conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States.”
Gordei faces up to 35 years in prison and potentially $1.5 million in fines. He is scheduled to be sentenced on January 12, 2027.
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