Russian Man Gets 3 Years in Prison for Sending Dual-Use Micro-Displays to Russia

Maxim Marchenko, a Russian national living in Hong Kong, was sentenced on July 17 to three years in prison for his role in shipping dual-use, military grade organic light-emitting diode (OLED) micro-displays for Russian end users (see 2309190063), DOJ announced. He will serve three years of supervised release following his prison sentence.

Marchenko operates various shell companies based in Hong Kong, including Alice Components Co., Neway Technologies and RG Solutions. He worked with two Russian co-conspirators to run a "procurement network" that "fraudulently obtained" the OLED micro-displays for Russian end users. Marchenko and his co-conspirators used the Hong Kong-based shell companies and "other deceptive means" to hide that the shipments were meant for Russia.

The goods hold various military applications, such "as in rifle scopes, night vision goggles, thermal optics and other weapon systems," DOJ said. From May 2022 to around August 2023, the shell companies sent over $1.6 million to the U.S. to support the effort to smuggle the dual-use goods.

Marchenko falsely told the U.S. distributors that Alice Components was sending the micro-displays to users in China, Hong Kong and other nations for use in "electron microscopes for medical research or hunting rifles," DOJ said. Marchenko transshipped the micro-displays by using "pass-through entities" operated in third countries like Hong Kong. The conspiracy network then used a freight forwarder "known to provide freight forwarding services to Russia," DOJ said.