MOSCOW, August 20 (RAPSI) – Former Russian executive who was in charge of nuclear enterprise Tenex has agreed to plead guilty in the U.S. to money laundering and bribery charges, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

His plea hearing is scheduled for August 31 in federal court in Greenbelt, Md., The Wall Street Journal has reported.

Mikerin, the former general director of TENAM USA, which is indirectly under control of Rosatom, the Russian state-owned nuclear corporation, was charged with conspiracy to commit extortion.

Three US nationals were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Charges were brought in connection with an alleged scheme to obtain contracts that involved shipping uranium from disassembled nuclear Russian warheads to power plants in the US. Mikerin collected about $1.7 million in bribes from the scheme, according to prosecutors.

The inquiry into the alleged scheme began in 2009 and expanded for five years, with a paid informant as a member of the investigative team.

Mikerin was arrested on October 29, 2014, on a criminal complaint alleging money laundering and an elaborate extortion scheme.