Latest news with #JanMarsalek
ABC News
13-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Six Bulgarian spies jailed for feeding information to Russia
Six Bulgarian spies have been sentenced by a London judge to prison terms of up to nearly 11 years for carrying out a sophisticated spying operation for Russia. The group that used Hollywood code names discussed kidnapping or killing Kremlin opponents as they targeted reporters, diplomats and Ukrainian troops in the UK, Germany Austria, Spain and Montenegro between 2020 and 2023, prosecutors said, on Monday. No-one was physically harmed but the group put lives in jeopardy, prosecutors said. "It is self-evident that a high price attaches to the safety and interests of this nation," Justice Nicholas Hilliard said. "The defendants put these things at risk by using this country as a base from which to plan the various operations. "Anyone who uses this country in that way, in the circumstances of this case, commits a very serious offence." Ringleader Orlin Roussev, who operated out of a former guesthouse in the English seaside resort town of Great Yarmouth, was given the stiffest sentence — 10 years and eight months in prison — for being involved in all six operations discovered by police. He and the others faced up to 14 years behind bars. Roussev worked for alleged Russian agent Jan Marsalek, an Austrian national who is wanted by Interpol for fraud and embezzlement after the 2020 collapse of German payment processing firm Wirecard, prosecutors said. His whereabouts are unknown. Security Minister Dan Jarvis said the case sent a warning that Britain would use its "full range of tools" to "detect, disrupt, and deter malicious acts from hostile states and protect the public". Roussev, 47, and his lieutenant Biser Dzhambazov, 44, pleaded guilty in London's Central Criminal Court last year to espionage charges and having false identity documents. Dzhambazov was sentenced to 10 years and two months in prison. Roussev called himself Jackie Chan and Dzhambazov was dubbed Mad Max or Jean-Claude Van Damme. Their underlings were dubbed "Minions" from the animated Despicable Me film franchise. Police said their fanciful pseudonyms masked a deadly serious gang. In one operation, members tried to lure a journalist who uncovered Moscow's involvement in the 2018 Novichok poisoning of a former Russian spy in Salisbury, England, into a "honeytrap" romance with another member of the group, Vanya Gaberova. The spies followed Christo Grozev, a Bulgarian researcher for the online publication Bellingcat, from Vienna to a conference in Valencia, Spain, and the gang's ringleaders discussed robbing and killing him, or kidnapping him and taking him to Russia. "Learning only in retrospect that foreign agents have been monitoring my movements, communications and home, surveying my loved ones over an extended period, has been terrifying, disorientating and deeply destabilising," Grozev said in a statement read during the four-day sentencing hearing. "The consequences have not faded with time — they have fundamentally changed how I live my daily life and how I relate to the world around me." In another operation, members of the group conducted surveillance on a US air base in Germany where they believed Ukrainian troops were training. After police raided his house and arrested Roussev, he denied doing anything on behalf of any government. "I would be thrilled to see how on God's earth there is a connection between me and Russia or any other state because I haven't been a spy or government agent," Roussev said in a police interview. "No James Bond activity on my end, I guarantee you." Messages to Marsalek, however, showed him talking about his "Indiana Jones warehouse" of spy equipment and said he was becoming like "Q," the mastermind behind Bond's gadgets. Roussev's house was loaded with spy tech. He had equipment used to jam Wi-Fi and GPS signals, along with eavesdropping devices and car trackers. Cameras were hidden in sunglasses, pens, neckties and cuddly toys, including one in a Minion doll. A selfie of Marsalek wearing a Russian uniform was found on Roussev's phone. Three of the so-called minions were convicted at trial in March of spying for an enemy state. Katrin Ivanova, 33, was sentenced to nine years and eight months in prison; Gaberova, 30, was sentenced to six years and eight months; and Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev, 39, was sentenced to eight years in prison. Ivan Stoyanov, 33, a mixed martial arts fighter who pleaded guilty to spying for Russia, was sentenced to five years and three weeks in prison. Each convict faces deportation after they are released from prison. Both women had claimed during the trial that they had been deceived and manipulated by Dzhambazov. Dzhambazov, who worked for a medical courier company but claimed to be an Interpol police officer, was in a relationship with both women — his laboratory assistant and longtime partner Ivanova and beautician Gaberova. Gaberova had ditched painter-decorator Ivanchev for the "ugly" Dzhambazov, who took her to a Michelin-starred restaurant and stayed with her in a five-star hotel during a surveillance mission. When police arrested the suspects in February 2023, they found Dzhambazov naked in bed with Gaberova rather than at home with Ivanova. Defence lawyer Anthony Metzer said Gaberova was naive and her case was tragic as she "slipped into criminality" under Dzhambazov's romantic spell. But the judge said she knew what she was doing was for Russia. "You found what you were doing exciting and glamorous, as demonstrated by the film you took of yourself wearing surveillance glasses in Montenegro," Justice Hilliard said. AP
Irish Independent
13-05-2025
- Irish Independent
‘A serious risk to British national security' – Russian spy-ring leader jailed for 11 years
Today at 21:30 The leader of a British-based Russian spy ring that prosecutors said carried out surveillance for the Kremlin was sentenced yesterday to nearly 11 years in jail, as his five team members were jailed for a total of about 40 years. Orlin Roussev (47) pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey before trial to one count of conspiracy to spy for Russia after police found thousands of messages between him and Wirecard fugitive Jan Marsalek, who directed the unit of Bulgarian nationals from overseas.
NBC News
12-05-2025
- NBC News
Honeytraps and high tech: Russian spy ring members jailed in the U.K.
LONDON — A Russian spy ring plotted to trade blood diamonds for weapons in Africa and supply drones to Russia's military, according to messages shown to a London court that painted their fugitive leader as a wannabe James Bond. Jan Marsalek — who has been named as a key suspect in Germany's biggest postwar fraud case — is alleged to have led the team of six Bulgarians who were sentenced Monday at London's famous Old Bailey courthouse. When German payment company Wirecard collapsed in 2020, owing creditors almost $4 billion, Marsalek, the company's chief operating officer, went on the run and an international manhunt was launched for the Austrian national, who remains at large. Messages revealed in court made it clear he was in Moscow as he referred to meetings with the GRU and the FSB state security service, at their headquarters building known as the Lubyanka, and at a 'bonding exercise with the FSB guys at the shooting range.' He even posed for a selfie in Russian military fatigues. Court documents also showed that, while he was on the run, he directed a ragtag group of amateur operatives: Orlin Roussev, 47; his second-in-command, Biser Dzhambazov, 44; and Ivan Stoyanov, a 33-year-old mixed martial arts fighter known as 'The Rock.' Katrin Ivanova, 33, and Vanya Gaberova, 30, described by prosecutors as 'honeytrap' agents, and competitive swimmer Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev, 39, made up the rest of the ring that carried out activities that, British police said, put lives and national security at risk. The spies conducted surveillance for the Russians targeting journalists, diplomats and dissidents in Britain, Austria, Spain and Montenegro, and they were paid handsomely for their services, prosecutors said. Using law enforcement grade devices called 'IMSI grabbers,' prosecutors said they targeted the Patch Barracks, a U.S. base in Stuttgart, Germany, where they believed Ukrainian soldiers were being trained to operate Patriot missile air defense batteries. This would have helped Russians to target them when they returned to Ukraine to operate the missile batteries, the court heard. However, following an investigation by Britain's MI5 spy service, they were arrested on Feb. 8, 2023, as they prepared to return to Germany with the devices hidden in a second-hand Chrysler. NBC News has contacted Russia's Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, known as GU, for comment. Prosecutors said the unit did not work directly for Russian intelligence and their members were motivated by financial gain. Investigators traced $225,000 but believe at least the same amount was paid in cryptocurrency, they said. In his sentencing, Judge Justice Hilliard said the large amounts of money paid to the six Bulgarian spies demonstrated the 'value' of their covert activities to Russia. 'Some of the money would have covered their expenses, but not all,' he said. 'This enabled the defendants to live very comfortably. It must have been thought that what the defendants were doing was of value.' However, prosecutors said that Roussev led the spy ring from a rundown guesthouse in Great Yarmouth, a seaside town on the east coast of England, where he stashed his huge collection of spy equipment, much of which he had adapted himself. Roussev pleaded guilty to spying for Russia in November and was sentenced to 10 years and eight months in prison. Dzhambazov was jailed for 10 years and two months and Stoyanov for seven years and seven months. Ivanova was found guilty in March along with Gaberova and Ivanchev. She was jailed for nine years and eight months. Gaberova and Ivanchev were sentenced to eight years each. As the sextet awaited sentencing, court documents revealed over 80,000 messages had been recovered from Roussev and Dzhambazov on the encrypted Telegram messaging app, following their arrest on Feb. 8, 2023. They shed light on the lifestyle of Marsalek in Moscow, revealing he partied with intelligence officers and naked girls, got cosmetic surgery to hide his identity and said he wanted to 'outperform James Bond.' In a bid to show he was 'not an anti-Western ideologue,' Roussev's defense lawyers introduced messages with Marsalek which, they said, showed their client was 'fixing for money' like 'everything else Mr. Roussev does.' The messages, which were not introduced by prosecutors as part of their Russian espionage allegations, showed the pair discussed a request to help evacuate U.S. and Afghan nationals from Afghanistan during the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces from the country in August 2021. 'Interesting request from our (sort of) friends at the CIA,' Marsalek said. 'They urgently need aircraft to fly out contractors from Afghanistan,' he said. 'Do you know anyone who's a bit rogue and operates large-scale airplanes?' The objective was 'to evacuate about 1,000 Afghan nationals' and '80 US citizens' to Albania, in a deal he said was agreed between the Albanian and U.S. governments. Roussev said he would ask his father's pilot contacts in Africa and Marsalek replied: 'America needs you, pax Americana rests on your broad and manly shoulders.' Roussev later said the flight left Kabul shortly before an ISIS-K terrorist detonated a bomb outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul killing 170 people and 13 American service members. Defending Roussev in court, King's Counsel Mark Summers said the request had come via a private company. The CIA declined to comment. Prosecutor Alison Morgan said the pair were not acting on a humanitarian basis or at the direct request of the U.S. government. It remains unclear whether Roussev was successful in ensuring a flight. Roussev and Marsalek also discussed transporting diamonds in exchange for arms, the messages showed. In a June 2021 exchange, Marsalek asked whether African diamond sellers wanted guns in exchange or cash. 'They usually buy guns, a lot of them,' noting that he wasn't sure if rebel forces or the government would benefit from the deal. 'Allegedly only government, but who knows, this is Africa,' he said. Three months earlier, Roussev messaged Marsalek to say he had been approached to supply 886,000 tons of wheat annually to the Cameroon government at a 'very low price' from Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Describing it as a 'good deal' considering the volume, he said that weapons and Sputnik COVID vaccines would likely be part of the transaction.' Guns and sputnik = no problem,' Marsalek replied. 'Can pretty much organize anything they need except nukes,' he added, with a laughing emoji. 'Even the nukes if they pay.' Other messages offered glimpses of Marsalek's life in exile and his efforts to stay ahead of authorities, including facial reconstruction. In May 2021, he wrote: 'I'm trying to improve my skills on a few fronts, languages is one of them. In my new role as an international fugitive, I must outperform James Bond.' Four months later, in September of that year, Marsalek apologized for being out of touch, saying he was 'stuck between the mafia, half of Russia's ambassadors, the GRU, a dozen naked girls and some deep-state guys whose names no one knows who forced me to drink a bottle of gin.' Months later, he told Roussev he had 'another cosmetic surgery, trying to look differently.'
CNN
12-05-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Russian spy ring leader jailed in UK for nearly 11 years
The leader of a British-based Russian spy ring which prosecutors said carried out surveillance for the Kremlin was sentenced in a London court on Monday to nearly 11 years in jail, as his five team members were jailed for a total of about 40 years. Orlin Roussev, 47, pleaded guilty before trial to one count of conspiracy to spy for Russia after police found thousands of messages between him and Wirecard fugitive Jan Marsalek, who directed the unit of Bulgarian nationals from overseas. Judge Nicholas Hilliard sentenced Roussev to 10 years and eight months in prison, telling Roussev that the operations he had directed posed a serious risk to Britain's national security. Roussev is one of six Bulgarians convicted over their roles in the team directed by Marsalek to carry out surveillance on journalists, dissidents and Ukrainian soldiers being trained at a U.S. military base in Germany. Three of the group were found guilty in March after a trial, while Roussev, his deputy Bizer Dzhambazov, 44, and a third man – Ivan Stoyanov, 33 – pleaded guilty last year. Dzhambazov was sentenced to 10 years and two months, while his former partner Katrin Ivanova, 33, received a sentence of nine years and eight months. Vanya Gaberova, 30, was sentenced to eight years in jail, minus a period of one year and three months which she has already spent in custody. Her former partner Tihomir Ivanchev, 39, was sentenced to eight years. Stoyanov was sentenced to six years and four months, less time already served. Prosecutors said the unit did not work directly for Russian intelligence and were motivated mostly by money. The Russian embassy in London has not commented on the case, though the Kremlin has always rejected such spying allegations. Relations between Britain and Russia have plunged to post-Cold War lows since the start of the Ukraine war, with Britain accusing Russia of trying to cause 'mayhem' in Europe. Marsalek's lawyer in Germany – where he is wanted as the former chief operating officer of collapsed payments company Wirecard – previously declined to comment. His whereabouts are unknown but he is believed to be in Russia. Prosecutors said the spy ring's activities posed a serious threat to British national security, while police said the unit had been 'spying on an almost industrial scale.' One of their operations was a plan to intercept mobile phone signals at Patch barracks, a U.S. base near Stuttgart where Ukrainian troops were believed to be training to use surface-to-air Patriot missiles, prosecutors added. Much of the case focused on thousands of messages between Marsalek and Roussev, which contained half-baked plans and jokes about Russian operations on British soil, including the 2018 poisoning of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal. In July 2022, Marsalek sent Roussev a selfie of himself dressed in full military combat gear with a 'Z' logo, adopted by Russia's military as a symbol of their invasion of Ukraine. The pair repeatedly referred to Russia's GRU military intelligence and other security services, and discussed plans to supply drones to Russia and weapons to Cameroon, as well as speaking of their admiration for Elon Musk. Marsalek and Roussev also discussed organizing an airlift out of Kabul in 2021 as the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan.
The Independent
12-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
6 Bulgarians convicted in UK of spying for Russia get prison terms up to nearly 11 years
Six Bulgarians convicted of carrying out a sophisticated spying operation for Russia were sentenced by a London judge Monday to prison terms up to nearly 11 years. The group that used Hollywood code names discussed kidnapping or killing Kremlin opponents as they targeted reporters, diplomats and Ukrainian troops in the U.K., Germany Austria, Spain and Montenegro between 2020 and 2023, prosecutors said. No one was physically harmed but the group put lives in jeopardy, prosecutors said. 'It is self-evident that a high price attaches to the safety and interests of this nation,' Justice Nicholas Hilliard, said. 'The defendants put these things at risk by using this country as a base from which to plan the various operations. ... Anyone who uses this country in that way, in the circumstances of this case, commits a very serious offense.' Ringleader Orlin Roussev, who operated out of a former guesthouse in the English seaside resort town of Great Yarmouth, was given the stiffest sentence — 10 years and 8 months in prison — for being involved in all six operations discovered by police. He and the others faced up to 14 years behind bars. Roussev worked for alleged Russian agent Jan Marsalek, an Austrian national who is wanted by Interpol for fraud and embezzlement after the 2020 collapse of German payment processing firm Wirecard, prosecutors said. His whereabouts are unknown. Stiff sentences send a message Security Minister Dan Jarvis said the case sends a warning to other foes that Britain will use its 'full range of tools' to 'detect, disrupt, and deter malicious acts from hostile states and protect the public.' Roussev, 47, and his lieutenant Biser Dzhambazov, 44, pleaded guilty in London's Central Criminal Court last year to espionage charges and having false identity documents. Dzhambazov was sentenced to 10 years and 2 months in prison. Roussev called himself Jackie Chan and Dzhambazov was dubbed Mad Max, or Jean-Claude Van Damme. Their underlings were dubbed 'Minions' from the animated 'Despicable Me' franchise. Police said their fanciful pseudonyms masked a deadly serious gang. In one operation, members tried to lure a journalist who uncovered Moscow's involvement in the 2018 Novichok poisoning of a former Russian spy in Salisbury, England, into a 'honeytrap' romance with another member of the group, Vanya Gaberova. The spies followed Christo Grozev, a Bulgarian researcher for the online publication Bellingcat, from Vienna to a conference in Valencia, Spain, and the gang's ringleaders discussed robbing and killing him, or kidnapping him and taking him to Russia. 'Learning only in retrospect that foreign agents have been monitoring my movements, communications and home, surveying my loved ones over an extended period — has been terrifying, disorientating and deeply destabilizing,' Grozev said in a statement read during the four-day sentencing hearing. 'The consequences have not faded with time — they have fundamentally changed how I live my daily life and how I relate to the world around me.' Ringleader claimed he was 'no James Bond' In another operation, members of the group conducted surveillance on a U.S. air base in Germany where they believed Ukrainian troops were training. After police raided his house and arrested Roussev, he denied doing anything on behalf of any government. 'I would be thrilled to see how on God's earth there is a connection between me and Russia or any other state because I haven't been a spy or government agent,' Roussev said in a police interview. 'No James Bond activity on my end, I guarantee you.' Messages to Marsalek, however, showed him talking about his 'Indiana Jones warehouse' of spy equipment and said he was becoming like 'Q,' the mastermind behind Bond's gadgets. Roussev's house was loaded with spy tech. He had equipment used to jam Wi-Fi and GPS signals, along with eavesdropping devices and car trackers. Cameras were hidden in sunglasses, pens, neckties and cuddly toys, including one in a Minion doll. A selfie of Marsalek wearing a Russian uniform was found on Roussev's phone. Three of the so-called minions were convicted at trial in March of spying for an enemy state. Katrin Ivanova, 33, was sentenced to 9 years and 8 months in prison; Gaberova, 30, was sentenced to 6 years and 8 months; and Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev, 39, was sentenced to 8 years. Ivan Stoyanov, 33, a mixed martial arts fighter who pleaded guilty to spying for Russia, was sentenced to 5 years and 3 weeks. Each convict faces deportation after they are released from prison. Spy ring contains love triangle Both women had claimed during the trial that they had been deceived and manipulated by Dzhambazov. Dzhambazov, who worked for a medical courier company but claimed to be an Interpol police officer, was in a relationship with both women — his laboratory assistant and longtime partner Ivanova and beautician Gaberova. Gaberova had ditched painter-decorator Ivanchev for the 'ugly' Dzhambazov, who took her to a Michelin-starred restaurant and stayed with her in a five-star hotel during a surveillance mission. When police arrested the suspects in February 2023, they found Dzhambazov naked in bed with Gaberova rather than at home with Ivanova. Defense lawyer Anthony Metzer said Gaberova was naive and her case was tragic as she 'slipped into criminality' under Dzhambazov's romantic spell. But the judge said she knew what she was doing was for Russia. 'You found what you were doing exciting and glamorous, as demonstrated by the film you took of yourself wearing surveillance glasses in Montenegro,' Justice Hilliard said.
