The U.S. Department of Justice has announced that Bulgarian national, Milan Dimitrov, aged 50, appeared in a federal court in San Antonio after being extradited from Greece.
Milan Dimitrov is suspected of transshipping radiation-hardened integrated circuits to Russia. These electronic components are used in outer space environments.
According to court documents, Milan Dimitov and his partners, Ilias Sabirov (52) from Russia and Dimitar Dimitrov (74) from Bulgaria, used the Bulgarian company, Multi Technology Integration Group EEOD (MTIG), to receive export-controlled items from the US and ship them to Russia without required licenses.
Ilias Sabirov established MTIG in Bulgaria in order to purchase controlled electronic circuits that did not require an export license for Bulgaria.
In late 2018, the Department of Commerce’s Export Control Officer interviewed Milan Dimitrov during a visit to MTIG to determine whether radiation-hardened components were still in the possession of MTIG in Bulgaria. Milan Dimitrov denied sending the components to Russia.
If the court decides that Milan Dimitrov is guilty, he will get at least 20 years in federal prison.
Sabirov and Dimitar Dimitrovs remain at large at this time.
