The Justice Department yesterday released an indictment charging Natalya Ivanovna Mazulina, also known as “Natasha Mazulina,” with her alleged involvement in a scheme to circumvent U.S. export laws and sanctions against Russia.
Mazulina, from Federal Way, Washington, was the western regional manager of a freight forwarding company based in Jamaica, New York. The company operated from JFK Airport in Queens, New York, and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Washington state.
According to the DOJ, from December 2022 through December 2024, Mazulina conspired with Russian freight forwarders and others to ship controlled goods, including industrial oil and gas equipment, through U.S. intermediary countries to Russia.
At one point, in June 2023, Mazulina told colleagues that her clients were paying through bank accounts in third countries because “[m]east of [her] customers [were] currently sanctioned with the US.”
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Mazulina attempted to conceal the unlawful scheme by submitting false export documents to the US government, documents purporting to show that the exported goods were destined for Russia.
Mazulina was arrested yesterday in Seattle and will be arraigned in New York at a later date. She is charged with conspiracy to export controlled goods to Russia without a license, conspiracy to defraud the US, conspiracy to commit money laundering, exporting controlled goods to Russia without a license, filing false export documents with the US government and smuggling of goods contrary to the law. American law.
If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for each count of conspiracy to export or export controlled goods to Russia without a permit; a maximum penalty of twenty years’ imprisonment for conspiracy to commit money laundering; up to 10 years in prison for each count of smuggling; and a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each count of conspiracy and filing false export documents with the U.S. government.
“The defendant leveraged her knowledge of the export industry to falsify documents and evade U.S. sanctions by illegally shipping oil and gas products to Russian customers,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the National Security Division. “American companies like the freight forwarder where Mazulina worked play a crucial role in the global supply chain and movement of goods. The National Security Division will not tolerate individuals who attempt to abuse their positions in these companies for financial gain at the expense of national security. .”
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