Manager of U.S. Freight Forwarding Company Indicted for Circumventing Export Controls

A 12-count indictment was unsealed yesterday charging Natalya Ivanovna Mazulina, of Federal Way, Washington, also known as “Natasha Mazulina,” for her alleged involvement in a scheme to circumvent U.S. export laws and sanctions on Russia. Mazulina, the Western regional manager of a freight forwarding company based in Jamaica, New York, which operated out of John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK airport) in Queens, New York, and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Washington State, was arrested yesterday in Seattle and will be arraigned in the Eastern District of New York at a later date.

“The defendant exploited her knowledge of the export business to falsify documents and circumvent U.S. sanctions by illegally shipping oil and gas products to Russian customers,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the National Security Division. “American companies like the freight forwarder where Mazulina worked play a critical role in the global supply chain and movement of goods. The National Security Division will not tolerate individuals who seek to abuse their positions in these companies for financial gain at the expense of national security.”

“We’ve been clear and consistent that we want to help freight forwarders comply with our rules,” said Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement Matthew S. Axelrod of the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). “But, as today’s arrest underscores, we’ve also been clear and consistent about what happens when they don’t.”

“As alleged, Mazulina used her position as a manager of a freight forwarding company to facilitate unlawful exports to Russia through JFK airport,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York. “Evading U.S export regulations presents a danger to our national security, and we will continue to use all of our law enforcement and national security tools make sure these enablers, both individuals and corporations, cannot operate in our district.”

“The defendant in this case allegedly helped Russia obtain such valuable items as industrial oil and gas equipment in violation of export laws and sanctions,” said Executive Assistant Director Robert Wells of the FBI’s National Security Branch. “The FBI will continue to work closely with our partners to detect and stop such illegal transfers and hold accountable those who engage in activities detrimental to U.S. national security interests.”

As alleged in the indictment, from at least December 2022 through December 2024, Mazulina conspired with Russian freight forwarding companies and others to unlawfully ship controlled items, including industrial oil and gas equipment from the United States to Russia, through intermediary countries. At one point, in June 2023, Mazulina told colleagues that her clients were paying through bank accounts in third party countries because “[m]ost of [her] clients [were] currently sanctioned with USA.”  Mazulina attempted to conceal the unlawful scheme by submitting and causing the submission of false export documents to the U.S. government, documents which should have revealed that the exported goods were destined for Russia.

Mazulina is charged with conspiracy to export controlled goods to Russia without a license, conspiracy to defraud the U.S., conspiracy to commit money laundering, exporting controlled goods to Russia without a license, filing false export documents with the U.S. government, and smuggling goods contrary to U.S. law. If convicted, she faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count of conspiring to export or exporting controlled goods to Russia without a license; a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for conspiring to commit money laundering; up to 10 years in prison for each count of smuggling; and a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each count of conspiracy and filing false export documents with the U.S. government. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The BIS and FBI are investigating the case. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington, FBI Seattle Field Office, and BIS Boston Field Office assisted the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Artie McConnell and Matthew Skurnik for the Eastern District of New York and Trial Attorneys Christopher M. Rigali and Adam Barry of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case. The Justice Department's Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section assisted with this investigation.

The investigation was coordinated through the Justice Department’s Task Force KleptoCapture, an interagency law enforcement task force dedicated to enforcing the sweeping sanctions, export controls and economic countermeasures that, beginning in 2014, the United States, along with its foreign allies and partners, has imposed in response to Russia’s unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine. Announced by the Attorney General on March 2, 2022, and under the leadership of the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, the task force will continue to leverage all of the department’s tools and authorities to combat efforts to evade or undermine the collective actions taken by the U.S. government in response to Russian military aggression.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

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Source: Justice.gov