[Puffer Fish]

This is another example of how the U.S. is applying its laws across the world, imposing its legal jurisdiction in other countries.

Artyom Uss is the 40-year-old son of a Russian regional governor. Criminal charges were issued against him by U.S. prosecutors accusing him of facilitating the buying of technology information from U.S. companies to provide to Russia, a country that the U.S. is currently involved in a proxy war with in Ukraine (although not officially at war).
He is also accused of facilitating the shipping of oil from Venezuela to Russia and China, in defiance of sanctions imposed by the U.S.

Artyom Uss visited Italy, and there was arrested by Italian authorities based on a warrant from the U.S. against him. This despite the fact that he had not committed the alleged crime while in the U.S. It's not even entirely clear that he has ever visited the U.S.

The U.S. is enforcing its laws against other people in other parts of the world.

The purchase of the technology from those U.S. companies would not have been illegal except for the fact that the information was going to be given to Russia.
(Artyom Uss allegedly used his organization to buy the technology through companies set up in third party countries, where it was legal for U.S. companies to sell technology to)

I think this sets some concerning legal precedents.

The criminal laws under which he was charged were "violating sanctions" (against Venezuela) and "defrauding banks" (under the legal theory that sending money to companies through a bank in the U.S. constitutes "fraud", since it is against the law for U.S. companies to take part in transactions that violate U.S. sanctions).

Artyom Uss did however escape from house arrest and fled Italy right after the Italian court made the decision to have him extradited to the U.S. The Italian Justice minister is probing how this happened, and investigating whether or how information about the court decision was leaked to the suspect.

It seems the war in the Ukraine has spilled over into the legal arena. The U.S. is waging a worldwide legal war, threatening individuals in other countries with prison.


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