Bulgarian National Extradited for Scheme to Illegally Export U.S.-Origin Sensitive Microelectronics to Russia

Press Release

The defendant and his co-conspirators used a Bulgarian company to transship radiation-hardened integrated circuits to Russia

SAN ANTONIO - A Bulgarian national made his initial appearance in a federal court in San Antonio Monday after being extradited from Greece.

According to court documents, Milan Dimitrov, 50, allegedly conspired with Ilias Sabirov, 52, of Russia, and Dimitar Dimitrov, 74, of Bulgaria, to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Export Control Reform Act (ECRA) in a scheme to procure sensitive radiation-hardened integrated circuits from the United States and illegally export those components to Russia through Bulgaria without the required licenses from the U.S. government.

Milan Dimitrov is charged with two counts of IEEPA violations, one count of money laundering, and one count of making false statements to the Department of Commerce in violation of ECRA. Each count in the indictment carries up to 20 years in federal prison.

Sabirov and Dimitar Dimitrov currently remain at large. The two were charged in the same indictment in December 2020 with two counts of IEEPA violations and one count of money laundering.

The indictment alleges that between at least May 2014 and May 2018 the defendants used the Bulgarian company Multi Technology Integration Group EEOD (MTIG) to receive export-controlled items from the United States and transship them to Russia without the required licenses.

According to the indictment, Sabirov is the head of two Russian companies-Cosmos Complect and OOO Sovtest Comp.-and controls MTIG. Both Dimitar Dimitrov and Milan Dimitrov worked for Sabirov at Cosmos Complect and MTIG.

As alleged, in 2014, the defendants met with the supplier of the radiation-hardened circuits in Austin and were informed that radiation-hardened circuits could not be shipped to Russia because of U.S. trade restrictions. Sabirov then established MTIG in Bulgaria to purchase the controlled electronic circuits, which did not require a license for export to Bulgaria. The radiation-hardened properties of these circuits made them resistant to damage or malfunction in the harsh outer-space environment. The circuits were controlled for export to Russia for these very reasons. The parts were shipped to Bulgaria in 2015, and MTIG soon thereafter transshipped them to Sabirov's companies in Russia. OOO Sovtest Comp. transferred over $1 million to MTIG for the parts.

In the same timeframe, MTIG-at Sabirov's direction-ordered over $1.7 million in other electronic components produced by another U.S.-based electronics manufacturer. MTIG bought these parts to fulfill part of its contract with OOO Sovtest Comp. Again, the parts were shipped from the United States to Bulgaria, where they were merely repackaged and then shipped to Russia.

In late 2018, a Department of Commerce Export Control Officer interviewed Milan Dimitrov during a visit to MTIG to determine whether the radiation-hardened components were still in MTIG's possession in Bulgaria. Milan Dimitrov, among other things, falsely denied sending the components to Russia.

U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza of the Western District of Texas made the announcement.

The Commerce Department's Office of Export Enforcement and the FBI are investigating this case with assistance from Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS).

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael C. Galdo and G. Karthik Srinivasan are prosecuting the case along with trial attorney Christine Bonomo of the National Security Division's Counterintelligence and Export Control Section. The Justice Department's Office of International Affairs provided valuable assistance.

An indictment merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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Updated August 12, 2024