Viktor Bout “Merchant of Death,” faces new charges in the US, which could complicate US-Russian relations -

Reading - Viktor Bout “Merchant of Death,” faces new charges in the US, which could complicate US-Russian relations -

The merchant of death whose exploits were the inspiration for the movie "Lord of War" was indicted Wednesday for trying to buy airplanes from U.S. companies to ferry illegal arms to hot-spots around the globe, prosecutors charged.

Victor Bout was accused of trying to buy a Boeing 727 and a Boeing 737 from two Florida aviations companies in 2007, according to an indictment announced Wednesday by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

"Viktor Bout allegedly made a career of arming bloody conflicts and supporting rogue regimes across multiple continents, even using the U.S. banking system to secretly finance a fleet of aircraft," Bharara said.

Bout and American-born pal Richard Chichakli were accused of creating a new business, Samar Airlines, which they thought was clean of any connection to their own bloody dealings.

Starting in the summer of 2007, Samar Airlines started making deals for airplanes and crews to ferry contraband between the United States and Tajikistan, the indictment said.

The Russian-born Bout is accused of wiring $1.7 million from bank accounts in Kazakhstan, Cyprus, Russia through banks in New York City and Salt Lake City to finance the scheme.

Besides prison time - up to 20 years for each of the nine-count indictment - prosecutors are going after his cash and his accounts at Wachovia, the International Bank of Commerce, Deutsche Bank and the Israel Discount Bank of New York, the indictment stated.

Bout, who is accused of supplying weapons to real war lords, from Charles Taylor in Liberia to the Taliban in Afghanistan, has been under arrest in Thailand since 2008, when the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration lured him to a sting that itself could be a movie plot.

DEA agents posed as Colombian guerrillas and got Bout on tape promising to sell the crew 700 to 800 surface-to-air missiles, enough ammo for a small war, cargo planes, even how-to classes to use the weapons.

Actor Nicholas Cage played Bout's on-screen alter-ego in the 2005 film "Lord of War" about an international arms dealer and death merchant.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/02/17/2010-02-17_merchant_of_death_victor_bout_indicted_for_trying_to_buy_us_planes_to_ferry_arms.html#ixzz0fqkHjCo6