Who is Gal Haimovich?
Gal Haimovich, 49, of Israel was the owner of Control Towers Tel Aviv, an international freight forwarding company that was an affiliate in a group of companies that did business in various countries, including his home country and the United States. Through these companies, he operated as a freight forwarder of choice for individuals and entities seeking to illegally export goods to Russia, violating U.S. export control laws.
Haimovich was accused of falsifying U.S. export paperwork. In his illegal transactions, he allegedly used Yaron Zehavi as his fake name.
After Haimovich was hired by Siberia Airlines (S7 Airlines) to deliver the aircraft component to Russia, he directed a co-conspirator to falsely inform the U.S. supplier that the part was destined for the Maldives. The Israeli freight forwarder knew that the part was destined for Russia for the benefit of S7 Airlines.
Between March 2022 and May 2023, Haimovich billed Russian customers, including S7 Airlines $2,024,435.44 to have aircraft parts and avionics illegally exported from the U.S. to Russia. He facilitated the export of aircraft parts and avionics from the U.S. to various third-party transhippers on behalf of Russian customers, who routinely instructed him to deceive the manufacturers and suppliers based in the U.S. about the ultimate destination of the goods.
On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine and in response, the U.S. imposed additional restrictions on the export of goods to Russia. Between April 2022 and April 2023, Haimovich arranged for more than 160 shipments to companies in the Maldives and United Arab Emirates that were responsible for the illicit transshipment of the goods to Russia.
In July 2022, a co-conspirator directed Haimovich through an email to arrange the transportation of an air data module to Moscow, Russia. In August 2022, Haimovich instructed a co-conspirator to inform the U.S. vendor that the air data module would be shipped to a company in the Maldives.
When Haimovich tried to export an air data and inertial reference unit in September 2022, a co-conspirator sent an email instructing him to hide from the U.S. vendor that the supplies were being shipped from Miami, Florida, USA to Moscow. On June 4, 2023, Haimovich was arrested in Broward County, Florida.
On March 17, 2024, Haimovich turned 49. On September 9, 2024, he appeared in federal court in Miami where he pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit export control and smuggling violations.
On February 21, 2025, U.S. District Judge Jose M. Martinez sentenced Haimovich in a hearing in Miami to 24 months in prison and three years of supervised release for conspiracy to illegally ship aircraft parts and avionics from U.S. manufacturers and suppliers to Russia. The Israeli man also paid the full forfeiture amount of $2,024,435.44 and agreed to forfeit various aircraft parts and components.
CONAN Daily 