Ilias Sabirov, International Export Violations, Texas 2023

Austin, TX - An international trio has been charged with violating U.S. export laws in a scheme to procure sensitive radiation-hardened circuits from the United States and ship them to Russia through Bulgaria without required licenses.

A four-count federal grand jury indictment returned in Austin and unsealed today charges three foreign nationals - a Russian citizen and two Bulgarian citizens - with violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), Export Control Reform Act (ECRA), and a money laundering statute.

The indictment alleges that 48-year-old Russian national Ilias Sabirov, 70-year-old Bulgarian national Dimitar Dimitrov and 46-year-old Bulgarian national Milan Dimitrov used Bulgarian company Multi Technology Integration Group EEOD (MTIG) to receive controlled items from the U.S. and send them to Russia.

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.

In 2014, the defendants met with the supplier of the radiation-hardened components in Austin and were informed that radiation-hardened circuits could not be shipped to Russia because of U.S. trade restrictions. Stymied by U.S. law, Sabirov established MTIG in Bulgaria and bought the controlled electronic circuits.

The radiation-hardened properties of these circuits made them resistant to damage or malfunction in the harsh outer-space environment. Export of the parts was controlled by the U.S. government for these very reasons. The parts were shipped to Bulgaria in 2015 and MTIG soon thereafter shipped them to Sabirov's companies in Russia.

O OO Sovtest Comp. transferred over $1 million to MTIG for controlled U.S. parts. In the same timeframe, MTIG - at Sabirov's direction - ordered over $1.7 million in other electronic components produced by another U.S. electronics manufacturer.

The indictment details the efforts our adversaries will make to obtain our sensitive technology and demonstrates that the United States will hold any individuals, organizations, and nations, who willfully violate our export laws accountable.

The Office of Export Enforcement in partnership with the FBI and DCIS uncovered an illicit procurement network that was diverting radiation-hardened integrated circuits from the United States through a Bulgarian front company to entities in Russia.

"Time and again, we find the Russians attempting to get access to sensitive American technology. The defendants here are charged with exporting radiation-hardened chips to Russia, knowing that it was illegal to do so and establishing a business in Bulgaria to circumvent U.S. enforcement authorities," said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers.

"Today's indictment demonstrates that the United States Attorney's Office, the Department of Justice and our federal partners will follow those who seek to evade U.S. export enforcement laws wherever our investigations lead. National security remains our highest priority. We must never allow our most sensitive technology to fall into the hands of those who would seek to use it against us," said U.S. Attorney Sofer.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/international-trio-indicted-austin-illegal-exports-russia