Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Italian national Manfred Gruber pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit export control violations. Gruber illegally exported ammunition worth over $540,000 from the United States to Kyrgyzstan, via companies that the defendant and his co-conspirator controlled in Italy. After reaching Kyrgyzstan, most of this ammunition was subsequently reexported to Russia. Today’s proceeding was held before United States Magistrate Judge Taryn A. Merkl. In January 2026, Sergei Zharnovnikov, a Kyrgyzstan-based co-conspirator of the defendant, was sentenced to 39 months’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to violating the Export Control Reform Act.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice