Who is Alexey Brayman? Craft shop owner helped run smuggling ring, shipped nuclear weapon devices to Russia

Based in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, Brayman and Yermolenko delivered the illegal materials from their house along with their Etsy items. “They did get a lot of packages. Which I guess makes sense now,” Amy Goodridge, who lives across the street from Brayman, told The Boston Globe. Brayman is accused of working with a group of six people, five of whom are Russian citizens, to covertly ship semiconductors and oscilloscopes all around the world before they arrived in Russia. “As alleged, the defendants perpetrated a sophisticated procurement network that illegally obtained sensitive U.S. technology to facilitate the Russian war machine,” US Attorney Breon Peace said.

The accusations state that the smuggling ring would set up fictitious businesses and bank accounts near New York City in order to buy the sensitive technology from US businesses. Federal prosecutors assert that Brayman would fake shipping invoices and paperwork before repackaging and reshipping goods to various intermediary locations across the world, typically to an accomplice in Estonia who would then transport the shipments to Russia. The network allegedly used Brayman's Merrimack residence as a hub for the business, concealing an influx of entering and leaving parcels there. CoolHouzGifts, an Etsy company founded by Brayman and his wife Daria, specialized in care packages.

Daria, who was born in Russia, gave money to Sunflower of Peace in March, a nonprofit organization that provides "life-saving medical and humanitarian aid to Ukrainians affected by the Russian military invasion." Daria claimed that she was unaware of her husband's suspected spying activities. According to the documents, authorities installed a tracking device on a box bought by the Russian national group in July. Prior to being stopped at John F Kennedy International Airport, the item which was addressed as Germany traveled from Nevada to Brayman's home in Merrimack. Soon after, authorities searched Brayman's house which led to his arrest.