International arms dealer arrested in Las Vegas indicted
An arms dealer and citizen of Kyrgyzstan arrested in Las Vegas was indicted in federal court Thursday with conspiring to export firearms from the United States to Russia without the necessary licenses and with illegal smuggling.
Sergei Zharnovnikov was arrested Jan. 24, according to a release from the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Nevada. He will be arraigned in the Eastern District of New York at a later date.
“As alleged, the defendant operated a sophisticated scheme to circumvent export controls and to export semi-automatic firearms and send them to Russia,” John J. Durham, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in the release. “Today’s indictment sends a message to the world that we will vigorously enforce statutes that control and restrict the export of items that could be detrimental to the foreign policy or national security of the United States, in this case, preventing U.S.-made firearms from getting into the wrong hands.”
If convicted of the charges, the defendant faces imprisonment of up to 30 years.
Contact Tony Garcia at tgarcia@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0307. Follow @TonyGLVNews on X.
This story originally said that Sergei Zharnovnikov was arrested at the annual Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade Show, held this year at the Venetian Expo and Caesars Forum.
