WASHINGTON — On Jan. 15, 2026, Sergey Nechaev, a dual U.S.-Russian citizen, was sentenced in federal court to 41 months in prison with three years of supervised release for his role in attempting to illegally export aircraft to Russia. Nechaev, 49, was arrested in December 2024 and pleaded guilty in September 2025 to attempting to export controlled goods without a license in violation of the Export Control Reform Act (ECRA), smuggling goods contrary to U.S. law, and causing the submission of false and misleading information in Electronic Export Information paperwork submitted through the Automated Export System. “Export control laws exist to protect our national security and prevent sensitive items from falling into the wrong hands,” said U.S. Attorney Margaret E. Heap for the Southern District of Georgia. “When individuals evade these laws, they undermine the safety of our country and its allies. The Southern District of Georgia will continue to aggressively prosecute those who do so.” According to court documents, between September 2022 and March 2023, Nechaev engaged in a scheme to violate and evade U.S. export control laws and regulations by attempting to smuggle two Cessna aircraft from the United States to Russia by transshipping them through Armenia. Specifically, after the U.S. government imposed stricter controls on Russia in February 2022, Nechaev attempted to export a 1968 Cessna 172K and a 1973 Cessna, valued together at approximately $170,000, to a purported Russian flight school, without the required license or authorization from the Department of Commerce. Nechaev wrote to a Russian co-conspirator (Russian Co-Conspirator 1): “I continue the dialogue (fight) with brokers. I have an idea to send it on our own to Turkey, but I’m afraid it can get stuck.” Nechaev’s co-conspirator told him: “Maybe don’t risk it?” To conceal the true end user and destination of the aircraft, Nechaev falsely represented that the end user and destination were in Armenia. Specifically, Nechaev first told a U.S. based freight forwarder that the end user of the planes would be a company in Türkiye. When questioned, Nechaev changed the end user to another company in Türkiye, and then to a company located in Armenia. The U.S.-based freight forwarder noted that “the only company with this name is in Moscow,” and Nechaev replied “I am on the phone with them now . . . [C]ompany is registered in Armenia, definitely I agree with you 100% with that Moscow reference. is not good at all.” Nechaev then sent the finalized falsified export paperwork to co-conspirators at a Russia-based shipping company and communicated with the Russian shipping company employees about trans-shipping the aircraft to Russia from Türkiye or Armenia. In that correspondence, Nechaev provided the Russian shipping company with Co-Conspirator 1’s contact information and wrote “Please include [Co-Conspirator 1] in the correspondence” and “He will conclude the contract.” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Darron Hubbard and L. Alexander Hamner for the Southern District of Georgia and Trial Attorney Leslie Esbrook of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section prosecuted the case, with valuable assistance from the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Homeland Security Investigations, and the Federal Aviation Administration. 03-26 |
