A man wanted on an international arrest warrant is being held in Diavata Prison in Thessaloniki, as he is accused by the US of selling US microchips and other high-tech components to Russia between 2014 and 2018, through a Bulgarian company that allegedly operated as a “front office”, bypassing export requirements set by the US government.

This is a 49-year-old Bulgarian, who was arrested at the beginning of last December by Greek police officers, in the area of ​​Sidirokastro Serres. According to the arrest warrant issued by the U.S. District Court (Western District of Texas), he is being prosecuted for the crimes of “fraud against the government” and “money laundering,” each of which carries a multi-year prison sentence, according to American criminal law. He reportedly denies the charges, while the Appeals Council of Thessaloniki will decide on his extradition.

Engineering companies based in Russia

According to the prosecution documents, the parts in question “could be used for spacecraft and rocket applications”, although, according to sources with knowledge of the case, they appear to have been used for the Moscow metro. According to the same documents, the same case involves two Russian engineering companies cooperating with each other, where the technological components were re-exported through Bulgaria: the first is based in Moscow and allegedly “develops and produces technological equipment for the manufacture of electronics ” and the second is said to be active in the “construction of guided missiles and space vehicles”.

The timeline of the case

The case, according to US authorities, begins in May 2014 when the 49-year-old Bulgarian, allegedly an engineer, and two associates met with a supplier of sensitive integrated circuit (IC) components to discuss their assignment to the second Russian company. Then the supplier explained to them that they cannot ship to Russia due to US trade restrictions. In August of the same year, one of the above associates allegedly informed the supplier that he had established a new company in Bulgaria with the purpose of “the development and application of miniature electronic technologies for use in cars and pipelines.”

In the following period, according to the Americans, funds of more than 1 million dollars were transferred from the first Russian company to the Bulgarian company for the purchase of packaging equipment for electronic components, while contracts for the purchase of American components followed, among them a lot of 1.7 million dollars (via the UK), with the goods arriving in Bulgaria where they were repackaged and sent to Russia.

The individuals involved and their companies were put under surveillance when a US Commerce Department export control official met with the 49-year-old in Bulgaria in December 2018 to see if the parts were still in his possession. The Bulgarian wanted man seems to have refused their re-exportation to Russia.