© Vkontakte / Oleg Tishchenko
Despite the long sentence, Tishchenko, 42, will be deported to Russia on June 19, according to court filings released Wednesday, having been credited with timed served while pending trial.
Tishchenko, who works for leading combat flight simulator designer Eagle Dynamics, apparently took his quest for realism too far when he purchased the US fighter jet manuals from an online auction in 2011. He then had them shipped to Moscow by an American man from Texas he met in the game-makers' online forum.
Despite him saying he was assured the manuals were outdated and there was no warning about them being classified, prosecutors argued that he had still broken arms exports laws as combat systems manuals require export licenses for shipment overseas. Matters were made worse by the fact that Tishchenko proceeded to copy the manuals and sell them to people in other countries from Russia.
The game maker was first extradited to the US after being arrested in Georgia in March on charges of conspiring against the United States. Although he had already been indicted years earlier, authorities were unable to arrest him at first as Russia has no extradition agreement with the US.
Reader Comments
Why is it that the eBay SELLER was not charged? (Most Likely Answer: "the FBI probably was the seller in the same way the FBI has routinely set up patsies in their 'Wars on the Bill of Rights' (oops "Wars" (sic) on Drugs & T-wordism. Here we have someone whose occupation is designing video games!
This was entrapment, pure and simple.
R.C.
However, US documents are either protected by being classified, or are presumed to be public property. That's why you can buy a M-16 Army Manual at a surplus store, etc.
R.C.
*Also, similar, yet different items of 'Intellectual property' can include Trademarks, and design patents.
RC
R.C.
They still call the language "English" as it is obvious that American officialdom does not understand the language
C'mon, Dude! ! You should already know the answer: he's Russian!
R.C.