John Can Unsalan acquired between July 2018 and October 2021 over US$150 million in metal products from companies owned by Sergey Kurchenko whom the U.S. administration sanctioned in 2015 for misappropriating Ukrainian state assets.
Kurchenko’s companies Gaz-Alyans OOO, and ZAO Vneshtorgservis - which Unsalan had traded with - were sanctioned in 2018 for supporting separatist forces in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Unsalan faces now a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and agreed to forfeit more than $160 million obtained in the illicit operations.
Sergey Karpushkin, one of the conspirators, pleaded guilty last month to participating in this scheme and accepted to forfeit over $4.7 million.
“Unsalan engaged in trade with these sanctioned individuals and entities to procure steelmaking equipment and raw material despite knowing that Kurchenko and his companies were subject to U.S. sanctions that prohibited Unsalan from doing business with them,” the U.S. Department of Justice statement said.
“Unsalan and his business associates received tens of thousands of tons of metal products from the companies and agreed to share profits from these unlawful transactions. No licenses from OFAC were applied for or issued for these payments or transfers,” it explained.
Kurchenko was sanctioned by the Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for allegedly buying cheap gas through several Ukrainian companies and made massive profits by selling the gas at market rates.
He is accused of illegally enriching himself and evading taxes worth millions of dollars. Between 2011 and 2013 Kurchenko's enrichment scheme would have provided his companies with an illegal turnover of 36 million Ukrainian hryvnia ($1.57 million).