MIAMI – A 49-year-old Israeli freight forwarder is awaiting sentencing in Miami federal court after recently admitting to violating U.S. laws — while doing business in Miami-Dade County.
According to federal court records, Gal Haimovich created a web of lies that included adopting the Yaron Zehavi persona to export U.S. aircraft parts and avionics to Russia. Investigators investigators identified Haimovich as an executive with Control Towers International, or CTI, a company with foreign affiliates in Doral, Amsterdam, London, Paris, and Singapore.
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The U.S. issued sanctions in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. In an e-mail on Sept. 19, 2022, Haimovich wrote that after the parts were in the Miami warehouse, CTI could ship these to a foreign country and tranship to Moscow, according to federal prosecutors.
“The actual shipper should not know that the cargo is following to Russia,” a representative of a Russian airline wrote in bold red in e-mails to Haimovich on July 28, 2022, and Sept. 27, 2022, according to prosecutors.
Investigators reported having evidence of Haimovich being involved in over $2 million in illegal transactions and about 160 shipments that violated U.S. sanctions and export control laws. Records show some shipments included stops in Jordan, the Maldives, and the United Arab Emirates before Moscow
“Control Towers International at the CTI Florida address is listed as the forwarding agent. The port of export is listed as Miami International Airport,” Brendan Quinlan, a federal agent with the U.S. Commerce Department, wrote about a transaction involving a $14,500 fuel pump, according to the criminal complaint in the case.
Federal prosecutors charged Haimovich with two counts of submitting false or misleading export information and one count of conspiracy to smuggle goods from the U.S. According to federal prosecutors, he agreed to forfeit over $2 million and aircraft parts and components and pleaded guilty on Monday in Miami federal court. His sentencing is Nov. 22.