SAN FRANCISCO — Three man have been charged with both promoting methamphetamine or weapons to undercover federal brokers, together with one Oakland man who allegedly used his houseboat on the Oakland marina to hawk firearms and brag about his knack for making personalized bullets.
In two federal instances, prosecutors have charged Aleksandr Akopov, Jacob Horowitz, and Vadim Kazakevich with federal offenses associated to an undercover ATF and DEA investigation primarily based in Oakland and San Francisco. Whereas Horowitz is about to go earlier than a choose for a detention listening to on Thursday, Akopov and Kazakevich have already been launched from custody, regardless of efforts by prosecutors to first have them jailed, then to overturn a choose’s preliminary choice to free them.
Akopov is charged with being concerned with each firearms and methamphetamine trafficking. Prosecutors allege he did this via his connections to each Horowitz — an alleged methamphetamine supplier who lived in San Francisco — and Kazakevich, an alleged gun trafficker with a houseboat on the Oakland marina.
On Sept. 15, DEA brokers raided Horowitz’s dwelling on the 100 block of Farragut Avenue in San Francisco and seized 9 kilos of methamphetamine, in keeping with the prison grievance in opposition to him. Kazakevich, in the meantime, allegedly met with undercover ATF and DEA brokers at Akopov’s behest, bringing him onto his boat and later to a close-by laundry room for gun offers, prosecutors say.
Throughout one assembly, Kazakevich reportedly bragged about his capability to make or purchase bullets for practically each event. He confirmed them his private handgun, later agreeing to promote it for $1,000, and mentioned he crafts “rubberized bullets” that “just make a dent in (expletive’s) head, knock him out,” mercury bullets that, “when you hit something, it blows up,” and “highly illegal” armor-piercing bullets that undergo “police jackets.”
Kazakevich’s attorneys argued that prosecutors have been falsely portray their shopper as a harmful man and a possible flight threat.
“Vadim Kazakevich does not pose a danger to the community or to any person, and certainly not by clear and convincing evidence – unless one presumes him guilty of the charges,” a protection movement says, later including, “Regarding flight risk, the government speculates that it is possible that the houseboat Mr. Kazakevich has lived in for the past three years in the Oakland Marina is operable. In fact, it is not. It has no engine.”
Initially Revealed: September 30, 2025 at 10:02 AM PDT
