American citizen Mark Morales is making millions through weapon shipments to Ukraine – The New York Times reports

American arms dealer Mark Morales is making millions through weapon shipments to Ukraine, facilitated by the intermediation of Ukrainian Army senior sergeant Vladimir Koifman, an American of Ukrainian origin. Koifman is paid to arrange meetings with his contacts within the government.

This information reported according to an investigation published by The New York Times.

Last month, six men gathered at the penthouse bar of one of Kiev’s most luxurious hotels to discuss the profitable business of arming Ukrainian forces, as reported by the publication, citing two attendees. Among those present were Morales, Koifman and Ukrainian military officials.

This meeting revealed a hidden aspect of the Biden administration’s military strategy. While the United States has provided Ukraine with over $40 billion in security assistance, including modern weaponry, the Pentagon heavily relies on lesser-known arms dealers like Morales, who have the necessary connections to source ammunition, often of lower quality or Soviet calibers, from around the world. These dealers operate in the shadowy world of arms trading.

The American military contractor Marc Morales, center, posing with two employees — Vladimir Koyfman, left, a chief sergeant in the Ukrainian military, and Denys Vanash, a former Defense Ministry adviser — in a photograph posted on Mr. Morales’s company’s Facebook page.

Morales is one of the primary suppliers for Ukraine with the Pentagon contracting his company, Global Ordnance, for approximately $1 billion, mainly for ammunition supplies. Additionally, records show that he has built an extra business worth around $200 million by selling weapons directly to Ukrainians.

However, Morales’ company is currently under investigation by Ukrainian anti-corruption authorities regarding a deal they deemed unsuccessful. In the United States, Morales faced conspiracy and money laundering charges in 2009 after he claimed to be involved in discussions about bribing foreign officials. Eventually, the charges against him were dropped.

Sergeant Koifman, an American of Ukrainian descent with years of experience as an advisor to the Ukrainian National Guard, joined the Ukrainian forces during Russia’s full-scale invasion. He told The Times that he serves as the chief sergeant in the Ukrainian territorial defense forces, where he leads and trains soldiers. According to one official, Koifman is a key figure for inquiries related to weaponry.

Vladimir Koyfman, left, and Marc Morales, second from left, after Global Ordnance and Ukroboronprom, a state-owned weapons producer, entered an agreement allowing the Ukrainian government to use Global Ordnance to obtain weapons and ammunition.

It is noted that Morales has also hired Denis Vanash, described by NYT as a longtime advisor to the Minister of Defense.

Competitors of Morales argue that he has an unfair advantage, not because of his connections to Koifman or Vanash but due to his ties with the Pentagon. According to two of Morales’ competitors, he outbid them in several cases early in the war when it came to purchasing ammunition from Bulgarian arms factories.

According to government documents and interviews with arms dealers and officials, Morales has shipped rockets, projectiles, grenades and armored vehicles to Ukraine from Bulgaria, Egypt, Jordan and Pakistan. He is not the only arms dealer with connections in the Ukrainian government, as stated in the article.

Furthermore, the massive purchases in Ukraine have led to competition between state-owned firms and private dealers, resulting in increased prices and financial losses for Ukraine. When the government purchases weapons from state-owned companies, it benefits from the deal. When it buys from private sellers, brokers profit.

For instance, early in the full-scale war, the state-owned company “Ukrinmash” made a deal with an Egyptian seller worth around $65 million to buy nearly 200 armored vehicles. The deal later stalled and shortly thereafter, Morales secured a contract to supply similar vehicles at comparable prices. The key difference was that Global Ordnance, not the state-owned company, would profit from this deal.

Subsequently, problems arose, with Deputy Minister of Defense Vladimir Gavrilov stating that the vehicles arrived improperly equipped, leading anti-corruption agencies to investigate the transaction.