Brooklyn resident admits scheme to sell electronics to Russian drone makers
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A Brooklyn man admitted to scheming to sell electronic components to a Russian company that built the killer drones used in Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Nikolay Grigorev, 37, a dual citizen of U.S. and Russia, pleaded guilty in Brooklyn Federal Court Tuesday to conspiracy to defraud the U.S., and could face between three to three-and-a-half years in prison.
Grigorev, who has a graduate degree from Baruch College, ran a Brooklyn-based company, Quality Life Cue, with two accomplices living in St. Petersburg, according to the feds.
After the Ukraine invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, he communicated with his cohorts on the best way to get around U.S. sanctions on items like semiconductors, lasers, sensors and other electronic components.
Part of that plan was arranging a “very small” test order of parts sent to Russia by way of Kazakhstan, Grigorev admitted. And in June 2023, the feds raided Grigorev’s home and found 11,500 pieces of electronics in his bedroom.
“I agreed with others to export goods outside the United States in violation of U.S. laws,” Grigroev told Judge Nicholas Garaufis Tuesday.
His two alleged accomplices, who were indicted in November, are still in Russia.
As part of the scheme, Quality Life Cue received more than $272,000 in wire transactions in the runup to the Ukraine invasion from a Russian company linked to the Special Technology Centre, or STC, which is barred from doing business with the U.S., according to the feds.
STC builds the “Sea Eagle” Orlan 10 UAV, a relatively cheap military drone that Ukraine’s commanders say killed up to 100 soldiers, Reuters reported in December 2022.
“Grigorev admitted today that he conspired to supply Russia with U.S.-sourced, dual-use technologies, knowing full well that his actions violated export controls and sanctions designed to stop those items from being sent to Russia and used in the production of drones like those found on the battlefields in Ukraine,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said Tuesday.
Grigorev, who’s free on $250,000 bond, will be sentenced Aug. 14. He declined comment Tuesday.
