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Is this a coincidence? The day after the US Department of Justice sentenced a Russian – who had been given US citizenship – to prison for illegal export of microelectronics to Russia’s FSB and money-laundering, the US Attorney General (head of DOJ), was accused of meeting with Russian officials and lying about it by the media. Who gave Washington Post this leak? Russia? The Trump Administration?

Recall that Trump recently lifted sanctions which blocked the Russian FSB from getting the latest Information technology products. The access to the latest IT products, allowed by the lifting of sanctions, facilitates Russian hacking of the US and Europe. Surprise! The US and Europe have been Trumped by Putin.

Did Sessions willingly meet with the Russians or was this a set-up so that if Sessions didn’t quash this and several other high profile cases (Deutsche Bank/Russia money-laundering investigation; Anti-Trust lawsuit against Trump fund-raiser/donor Doug Kimmelman’s Energy Solutions, and probably more) that they would have cause to remove him. Considering the sorts of people that Trump likes to surround himself with, Sessions may be safer and happier in jail for perjury. Note that as late as March of 2015 Sessions expressed concern that the US and Europe should unite against Russia. Clearly the idea of jobs for Americans was appealing to Jeff Sessions, as to many Americans. Was Sessions Trumped, along with the rest of the country? Unlike so much of Trump’s entourage, Sessions doesn’t seem to have any deep ties to Russia, nor to have gotten recent big campaign donations from anyone at all. If he sold out to Russia, what was the motive? No apparent motive raises the question of if he was threatened by Trump and/or Russia.

See more about the accusations below the DOJ press release. Consider too that the US continues to important Russian oil, gas and uranium: https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2017/02/14/sanctions-against-russia-what-sanctions-the-us-and-eu-still-import-russian-oil-gas-and-uranium-for-nuclear-power/

“JUSTICE NEWS Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Exporter of Microelectronics to Russian Military Sentenced to 135 Months in Prison Following Convictions on All Counts

Alexander Posobilov, 62, of Houston, Texas, was sentenced to 135 months in prison for conspiring to export and illegally exporting controlled microelectronics to Russia, and for conspiring to launder money. 

The sentence was announced by Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security Mary B. McCord and U.S Attorney Robert L. Capers for the Eastern District of New York. The sentencing took place before Senior U.S. District Judge Sterling Johnson, Jr.

“With this sentence, Alexander Posobilov is being held accountable for evading export laws and illegally exporting American microelectronics to Russia for military use,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General McCord. “Export laws exist as an important part of our national security framework and protecting national assets from ending up in the hands of our potential adversaries is one of our highest priorities.”

“Posobilov helped lead a criminal operation that through lies and subterfuge profited handsomely from the unlawful sale and export of sophisticated American microelectronics for use by the Russian military,” stated U.S. Attorney Capers.

“Today’s sentence shows that those who compromise the national security of the United States for their personal financial gain will face serious punishment.” Mr. Capers extended his grateful appreciation to the FBI’s Houston Field Office and the Department of Commerce for their leading roles in the investigation.

Posobilov, as well as ten other individuals and two corporations – ARC Electronics, Inc. (ARC) and Apex System, L.L.C. (Apex) – were indicted in October 2012. Posobilov and two co-conspirators were subsequently convicted at trial on all counts in October 2015. Of the remaining defendants, five pleaded guilty and three remain at large. ARC is now defunct, and Apex, a Russian-based procurement firm, failed to appear in court. 

Posobilov joined ARC in 2004, where he ascended to become the procurement manager and day-to-day director of the company. Between approximately October 2008 and October 2012, Posobilov managed a team of employees who worked to obtain advanced, technologically cutting-edge microelectronics from manufacturers and suppliers located within the U.S. and to export those high-tech goods to in Russia, while evading the government licensing system set up to control such exports. These commodities have applications and are frequently used in a wide range of military systems, including radar and surveillance systems, missile guidance systems and detonation triggers. Russia was not capable of producing many of these sophisticated goods domestically. Between 2002 and 2012, ARC shipped approximately $50,000,000 worth of microelectronics and other technologies to Russia. ARC’s largest clients were certified suppliers of military equipment for the Russian Ministry of Defense. 

To induce manufacturers and suppliers to sell these high-tech goods to ARC, and to evade applicable export controls, Posobilov and his co-conspirators provided false end user information in connection with the purchase of the goods, concealed the fact that they were exporters and falsely classified the goods they exported on export records submitted to the Department of Commerce. 

Ultimate recipients of ARC’s products included a research unit for the Russian FSB internal security agency, a Russian entity that builds air and missile defense systems and another that produces electronic warfare systems for the Russian Ministry of Defense.

The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s National Security & Cybercrime Section. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Richard M. Tucker and Una A. Dean, as well as Trial Attorney David Recker from the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, are in charge of the prosecution. Assistant U.S. Attorney Claire Kedeshian is handling the forfeiture aspects of the case. 17-229
National Security Division (NSD)
USAO – New York, Eastern
Topic:  Counterintelligence and Export Control, Updated February 28, 2017”
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/exporter-microelectronics-russian-military-sentenced-135-months-prison-following-convictions

As late as March of 2015 Senator Jeff Sessions’ advocated for the US and Europe to unify against Russia. However, by July 2016 he “praised Trump’s plan to build better relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin,” according to the Washington Post. See “Attorney General Jeff Sessions met with Russian envoy during 2016 presidential campaign, officials say“, March 1, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-spoke-twice-with-russian-ambassador-during-trumps-presidential-campaign-justice-officials-say/2017/03/01/77205eda-feac-11e6-99b4-9e613afeb09f_story.html

Sessions spokeswoman, Sarah Isgur Flores, as cited in Bloomberg, said that then US Senator Jeff Sessions had more than 25 conversations with foreign ambassadors last year in the context of being a Senator and member of the Armed Services Committee. These included British, Korean, Japanese, Polish, Indian, Chinese, Canadian, Australian, German and Russian ambassadors. “Sessions Met Twice With Russian Envoy During Trump Campaign” by Chris Strohm and Justin Sink, March 2, 2017, See: https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-03-02/sessions-spoke-with-russian-envoy-during-trump-s-2016-campaign

Isn’t Syria one reason that Sessions might have needed to meet with Russia? Did he forget? Why lie?

The US also continues to important Russian oil, gas and uranium: https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2017/02/14/sanctions-against-russia-what-sanctions-the-us-and-eu-still-import-russian-oil-gas-and-uranium-for-nuclear-power/

Why was the Russian Ambassador at the Heritage Foundation Event?

On March 1st, news sources reported that now Attorney General Sessions had “spoken twice with Russia’s ambassador to the United States. The first communication took place at a Heritage Foundation event attended by approximately 50 foreign ambassadors, among them Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyakwhom he spoke with. The next in September, again with with Ambassador Kislyak, in Sessions office during the alleged Russian cyber hacking campaign. Unnamed sources claim US Intelligence services consider Kislyak to be Russia’s top spy and spy-recruiter in Washington.” Wikipedia article on Jeff Sessions referring to the Washington Post article: Entous, Adam; Nakashima, Ellen; Miller, Greg. “Sessions met with Russian envoy twice last year, encounters he later did not disclose“. Washington Post. Retrieved 2 March 2017 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Sessions

If Sessions flipped and became pro-Russia there is no apparent motive for this, raising the question if he was threatened by Trump or Russia, or if he did forget a meeting made in conjunction with his Senate work. And why was the Russian Ambassador at the Heritage Foundation Event anyway? It is noteworthy that the accusations came out the day after the US Department of Justice sentenced a Russian-American to prison for illegally selling microelectronics to Russia.