Israeli citizen Gal Haimovich pleaded guilty to violating US trade sanctions.
He supplied aircraft parts to Russia, including for Sibir Airlines (S7 Airlines). According to court documents, he owned an international freight forwarding company that did business in various countries, including the US and Israel.
He organized more than 160 deliveries to companies in the Maldives and UAE, which were involved in illegal transshipment of goods to Russia. One of these shipments for Sibir Airlines happened in August 2022. Haimovch instructed an accomplice to falsify information about the destination of the shipment to an American supplier, claiming it was destined for the Maldivian market.
Having admitted guilt, Haimovic agreed to have his assets seized by the court in the amount of $2,024,435 as well as aircraft parts and components.
S7 Airlines is the largest private airline in Russia. Its fleet consists of aircraft from Airbus, Boeing, and Embraer. In 2016, the S7 subsidiary S7 Space acquired the Sea Launch floating spaceport, which had been developed to launch Zenit-3SL rockets from the Zenit family. The floating spaceport initially was located near Christmas Island but was later relocated to Russian territory.
