Chicago Tribune, IL
March 7 2009

Armenian gets 22 years in arms-trafficking sting; tells NY court he
was irresponsible

By Associated Press
8:03 PM CST, March 6, 2009

NEW YORK (AP) ‘ An Armenian immigrant was sentenced Friday to 22 years
in prison for plotting to sell anti-aircraft missiles and other
military weapons from the former Soviet Union to an FBI informant.

"I should have known better," Artur Solomonyan, 30, told a federal
judge before learning his sentence. He said he had been irresponsible
but got caught up in the scheme because he thought the informant could
get him a green card.

Prosecutors said Solomonyan led a ring that conspired to import
shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles, rocket-propelled grenade
launchers, anti-tank guided missiles and other weapons without a
license. The only weapons actually delivered were a dozen firearms,
including a machine gun.

Solomonyan and five co-defendants were convicted in July of charges
including arms trafficking and firearms trafficking conspiracy.

During the trial, prosecutors said greed spurred the group to try to
get into a dangerous business: dealing in weapons designed to pierce
armored tanks and shoot aircraft out of the sky.

Prosecutors said the case began when one of the defendants approached
the government informant to ask about the sale of machine guns. The
informant reported the offer to law enforcement and began making
recordings, generating hundreds of pages of reports.

Solomonyan said at his sentencing that he had once dreamed of winning
a Nobel Prize in science.

"Maybe I was overconfident," he said, adding later: "I realized I
failed, and it didn’t start with the weapons ‘ it started earlier."