Tuesday, July 27, 2010

News You Can Use: Sexy Russian Weapons Dealer Charged In Smuggling Night Vision Goggles

Say privyet to Anna Fermanova. She's a Russian weapons dealer who was busted for trying to export night vision goggles out of the US to Russia in violation of export control laws.
A fashionable young Russian expatriate is facing a federal felony charge for allegedly trying to smuggle state-of-the-art night vision scopes to Moscow. The weapons sights cannot be exported without approval from the Department of State since the items are considered munitions covered by the Arms Export Control Act.

Anna Fermanova, 24, was arrested earlier this month when she returned to the United States after spending four months overseas. She was charged with “knowingly and intentionally” attempting to export “from the United States to Russia defense articles on the United States Munitions list.”

Arguing that there was a “serious risk” that Fermanova would flee the country, federal prosecutors in Dallas asked a magistrate judge to jail her without bail. That request was denied by Judge Renee Harris Toliver, who released Fermanova on $50,000 bond, but seized her passport and placed her on 24-hour-a-day home incarceration.
It used to be that weapons dealers were middle aged white guys who were balding and were overweight - or at least that was how they were portrayed in movies. She also has a Facebook page. More photos are here.

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