"We will use every tool at our disposal to identify and hold accountable foreign agents operating inside this country – no matter how deep their cover," US Attorney General Eric Holder said Monday.
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M.N.: Just little specks on the the tip of the huge iceberg. It looks like we started to wake up. Better late than never.
"...the complaint said Podobnyy and Sporyshev engaged in other intelligence activities including "attempting to recruit New York City residents as intelligence sources for the Russian Federation."
The people they tried to recruit were described in the complaint as "several individuals employed by major companies, and several young women with ties to a major university located in New York" as well as a "number of other Russian-origin individuals associated with" the unnamed university.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/fbi-we-arrested-a-russian-spy-in-the-bronx-2015-1#ixzz3Py6FwRC0
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Wikimedia CommonsNew York City
FBI: We Busted A Russian Spy Ring In New York City
Feds charge three in alleged Russian spy ring
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"...the complaint said Podobnyy and Sporyshev engaged in other intelligence activities including "attempting to recruit New York City residents as intelligence sources for the Russian Federation."
The people they tried to recruit were described in the complaint as "several individuals employed by major companies, and several young women with ties to a major university located in New York" as well as a "number of other Russian-origin individuals associated with" the unnamed university.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/fbi-we-arrested-a-russian-spy-in-the-bronx-2015-1#ixzz3Py6FwRC0
"Not since the U.S. expelled a group of Russian spies nearly five years ago posing as American citizens, has the U.S. moved in such a major way in a espionage case involving Russia."
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By Jonathan Stempel and Nate Raymond
NEW YORK Mon Jan 26, 2015 3:50pm EST
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Monday unveiled criminal charges against three men for their alleged involvement in a Russian spy ring operating in New York City.
Evgeny Buryakov, Igor Sporyshev and Victor Podobnyy conspired to gather economic intelligence on behalf of Russia, including alleged information about U.S. sanctions against the country, and to recruit New York City residents as intelligence sources, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.
Monday's charges are linked to Buryakov's alleged covert work on behalf of Russia's foreign intelligence service, known as the SVR, according to a criminal complaint.
Buryakov, 39, masked this work by posing as a banker for Russia's Vnesheconombank, according to the complaint and the bank's website.
The alleged conspiracy began in 2012, following the 2010 expulsion of several Russian spies from the United States.
Federal prosecutors said Sporyshev, 40, worked as a Russian trade representative from November 2010 to November 2014, while Podobnyy, 27, was an attaché to Russia's mission to the United Nations from December 2012 to September 2013. .
"The presence of a Russian banker in New York would in itself hardly draw attention today, which is why these alleged spies may have thought Buryakov would blend in," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan said in a statement.
Each defendant was charged with acting as or helping Buryakov to act as an unregistered agent of a Russia, which carries a maximum 10-year prison term, and conspiracy.
Prosecutors said the case was built on physical and electronic surveillance of dozens of meetings, including several in which Buryakov met with an FBI agent posing as a wealthy investor who hoped to develop casinos in Russia.
They said Buryakov would seek information "far outside" what a banker in his position would care about, including a list of Russian entities that might face future U.S. sanctions.
Buryakov was arrested on Monday in the Bronx borough of New York City. His lawyer was not immediately available for comment.
Sporyshev and Podobnyy have not been arrested and no longer live in the United States but had diplomatic immunity while they were in the country, federal prosecutors said.
Russia's U.N. mission and Vnesheconombank did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Nate Raymond; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Lisa Shumaker)
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U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder(Photo: Pool, Getty Images)
WASHINGTON -- Federal authorities announced charges Monday against three Russian nationals, accused of spying on behalf of their government and attempting to recruit New York City residents as intelligence sources in the U.S.
One of the three, Evgeny Buryakov, was arrested in the Bronx and was scheduled to appear in a New York federal court late Monday.
The two others, Igor Sporyshev and Victor Podobnyy, are believed to be no longer in the country.
Buryakov, an accused agent of the Russian intelligence service known as the SVR, had been posing as a representative of a Russian bank in Manhattan. Sporyshev and Podobnyy, meanwhile, had been operating in the U.S. for years posing as "official representatives'' of the Russian government.
As early as November 2010, the alleged spy ring had been operating with Sporyshev and Podobnyy heading up the New York recruiting effort, while Buryakov attempted to gather intelligence on, among other things, potential U.S. sanctions against Russian banks and U.S. efforts to develop alternative energy resources.
Not since the U.S. expelled a group of Russian spies nearly five years ago posing as American citizens, has the U.S. moved in such a major way in a espionage case involving Russia.
"These charges demonstrate our firm commitment to combating attempts by covert agents to illegally gather intelligence and recruit spies within the United States,'' Attorney General Eric Holder said.
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The FBI announced on Monday that it had busted a Russian spy ring that was allegedly focused on obtaining economic information including details about U.S. markets and sanctions on Russian banks.
According to a federal complaint filed by FBI special agent Gregory Monaghan in a Manhattan federal court on Friday, an alleged spy, Evgeny Buryakov, posed as a banker in the New York office of an unnamed Russian bank.
Buryakov is reportedly being arraigned in the Southern District of New York.
Monaghan said Buryakov (a.k.a. "Zhenya") was on "deep cover" and working for Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) to gather intelligence and transmit it back to Moscow. The SVR used multiple forms of cover.
The complaint includes several stunning revelations including claims staffers at an unidentified Russian news organization in the US are engaged in spying and indications American law enforcement bugged the New York office of the Foreign Intelligence Service.
According to the complaint, Buryakov worked with two other men who were involved in intelligence gathering activities for the SVR: Victor Podobnyy and Igor Sporyshev. The complaint said Sporyshev served as a trade representative to the Russian Federation in New York. Podobnyy allegedly was an attache to the permanent mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations.
A statement sent out by the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York said Podobnyy and Sporyshev "no longer reside in the United States and have not been arrested."
The complaint said Buryakov was charged with one count of "conspiracy to act as an unregistered agent of a foreign government" and another count of "acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government." These charges stem from the fact Buryakov was allegedly posing as a private citizen while working for the SVR.
U.S. regulations require people working on behalf of foreign governments in this country to register with the Department of Justice and Buryakov allegedly did not. Due to their government postings the complaint said Podobnyy and Sporyshev seemed to be exempt from this registration requirement. Additionally, the statement from the U.S. attorney's office said they had diplomatic immunity that prevented them from being arrested.
According to the complaint, Buryakov, Sporyshev, and Podobnyy all worked for "a particular division of the SVR known as 'Directorate ER,' which focuses on economic issues." In addition to transmitting reports from Buryakov to Moscow Center, the SVR headquarters in Russia, the complaint said Podobnyy and Sporyshev engaged in other intelligence activities including "attempting to recruit New York City residents as intelligence sources for the Russian Federation."
The people they tried to recruit were described in the complaint as "several individuals employed by major companies, and several young women with tied to a major university located in New York" as well as a "number of other Russian-origin individuals associated with" the unnamed university.
In a statement, Assistant Attorney General John Carlin said Buryakov was attempting to get "economic and other intelligence information."
"The attempt by foreign nations to illegally gather economic and other intelligence information in the United States through covert agents is a direct threat to the national security of the United States, and it exemplifies why counterespionage is a top priority of the National Security Division," Carlin said.
The complaint claims Buryakov had "over four dozen meetings" where he used "clandestine methods and coded messages" to communicate with the other SVR spies. It describes several alleged meetings in some detail and said they typically involved Buryakov "passing a bag, magazine, or slip of paper to Sporyshev."
"These meetings typically took place outdoors, where the risk of effective surveillance was reduced relative to an indoor location," the complaint said.
In communications monitored by the FBI, the complaint said Sporyshev and Buryakov regularly discussed the "need to meet to transfer 'tickets'" even though they have "never been observed attending, or discussing in any detail, events that would typically require tickets."
Wikimedia CommonsNew York City
The complaint described one instance where Sporyshev did not meet with Buryakov in person and they talked on the phone. In that conversation Sporyshev allegedly asked Buryakov for "help in formulating questions to be used for intelligence-gathering purposes by others associated with a leading Russian state-owned news organization."
Though the news outlet was not identified, the complaint referred to it as having been "publicly identified by former SVR agents as an organization that is sometimes used by Russian intelligence to gain access to and gather intelligence under the cover of the news media." The complaint said Sporyshev specifically asked Buryakov for questions about subjects that would be "of interest to the Russian economic intelligence community."
In transcripts identified in the complaint as coming from this conversation between the two men, Buryakov was quoted encouraging Sporyshev to have the news organization ask about Exchange Traded Funds. These funds are a basket of securities traded like individual stocks.
"You can ask about the ETF," Buryakov was quoted saying. "How they are used, the mechanisms of use for destabilization of the markets."
It seems Buryakov also allegedly recommended having the news organization ask about high frequency trading and trades involving Russian products.
"Then you can ask them what they think about limiting the use of trading robots," he was quoted saying. "You can also ask about the potential interest of the participants of the exchange to the products tied to the Russian Federation."
The complaint said Buryakov was also monitored by the FBI agents in conversations with a confidential source who "posed as the representative of a wealthy investor." This source allegedly told Buryakov their employer wanted to work with his bank "to develop casinos in Russia."
In these meetings, the complaint said Buryakov made statements indicating "his strong desire to obtain information about subjects far outside the scope of his work as a bank employee, and consistent with his interests as a Russian intelligence agent" and his "willingness to solicit and accept" confidential US government documents.
In one instance, the complaint said the source gave Buryakov what he described as a list of Russian banks the US might impose sanctions on. In the past year, the US and its European allies have imposed sweeping economic sanctions against Russian banks in retaliation for their government's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
The bank where Buryakov allegedly falsely posed as an employee was not named in the complaint. However, the website of Russia's Vnesheconombank identifies a man named Evgeny Buryakov as a "deputy representative" at the bank's office on Manhattan's Madison Avenue. According to the site, that office is the "representative office of Vnesheconombank in the USA."
The man named Evgeny Buryakov who worked at Vnesheconombank did not immediately respond to messages sent to his email address. Business Insider also called Vnesheconombank's Manhattan office on Monday. A woman who answered the phone would not confirm whether an employee there had been arrested and referred us to the bank's press office in Russia.
"I'm authorized to give you no comment," the woman said.
Vnesheconombank's office in Russia did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
The US and Russia have experienced a number of spying spats over the years. In 2013, Russia expelled an American suspected of being a CIA agent trying to recruit intelligence officers in Moscow. In an even more prominent 2010 incident, the US arrested 10 alleged Russian spies who were part of the so-called "Illegals Program." Those arrested included Anna Chapman, the "femme fatale" who was subsequently released as part of a prisoner swap with Russia.
Based on the complaint, it seems the charges against Buryakov may have stemmed from the 2010 incident. It noted the investigation that eventually led to the charges was opened "within a few a months" of the guilty pleas entered by the "Illegals."
The charges also seem to have involved surveillance of an SVR office in New York City. According to the complaint, the SVR's office in the city "is located within an office maintained by the Russian Federation in New York." The complaint included transcripts of conversations between Sporyshev and Podobnyy that allegedly occurred inside this office.
One of these conversations involved the pair allegedly discussing the illegals program. In another, Podobnyy was quoted describing Sporyshev as his boss who was under cover at the trade mission. A third conversation detailed in the complaint included the pair complaining about their jobs with Podobnyy lamenting that it wasn't like "movies about James Bond." He was quoted saying he knew he "wouldn't fly helicopters," but thought he would "pretend to be someone else at a minimum."
"I also thought that at least I would go abroad with a different passport," Sporyshev was quoted saying in response.
Read the full complaint below:
This post was last updated at 4:23 p.m.
Additional reporting by Elena Holodny.
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· · · · · · · ·
Published time: January 26, 2015 20:05
Edited time: January 26, 2015 21:12
Edited time: January 26, 2015 21:12
Reuters/Chip East
Federal prosecutors in the United States have announced charges against three Russian men who allegedly operated an international spy ring based out of New York City.
US attorneys said Monday that Evgeny Buryakov, Igor Sporyshev, and Victor Podobnyy have been charged “in connection with Buryakov’s service as a covert intelligence agent on behalf of the Russian Federation.” Buryakov unlawfully acted as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, the federal complaint alleges, and his co-defendants are charged with conspiracy thereof.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation says that their investigation into the three co-defendants began shortly after ten alleged Russian spies, including Anna Chapman, were arrested in 2010 following a multi-year investigation. “Within a few months” of the Russians’ subsequent guilty pleas, according to this week’s statement, the FBI began investigating Buryakov, Sporyshev and Podobnyy.
According to the FBI, Buryakov maintained a cover job in the US as an employee in the Manhattan office of a Russian bank, but actually worked to gather intelligence for Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, SVR. A public LinkedIn profile for a man with the same name as Buryakov suggests he may have been working as a deputy representative in the US for Russia’s Vnesheconombank.
Sporyshev and Podobnyy posed as a Russian trade rep and a United Nations attaché, respectively, but allegedly worked as intermediaries between Buryakov and the SVR, according to the Department of Justice.
Together, the three are accused of aiding the Russian Federation’s intelligence gathering operations by collecting details on economic issues and other matters that could be exploited for the Kremlin’s gain.
According to a sealed complaint entered last week in the Southern District of New York and made public on Monday, the individuals fished for details on potential sanctions against Russia, as well as America’s efforts to develop alternative energy resources, then sent them back to the Kremlin.
Additionally, Buryakov was "formulating questions to be used for intelligence-gathering purposes by others associated with a leading Russian-state-owned news organization,” according to the complaint, and the individuals sought to recruit Americans from a New York City university and unnamed "major" companies to help spy on behalf of Moscow.
Buryakov was arrested Monday by law enforcement in New York, according to a statement released by the Department of Justice, but the other two men are no longer in the US and, according to the FBI, “protected by diplomatic immunity from arrest and prosecution."
“We will use every tool at our disposal to identify and hold accountable foreign agents operating inside this country – no matter how deep their cover,” US Attorney General Eric Holder said Monday.
“The attempt by foreign nations to illegally gather economic and other intelligence information in the United States through covert agents is a direct threat to the national security of the United States, and it exemplifies why counterespionage is a top priority of the National Security Division,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin said in the statement.
Paperwork filed against the three men in US District Court for the Southern District of New York suggests that physical and electronic surveillance conducted by American law enforcement against the individuals over the course of two-and-a-half years led to the filing of federal charges.
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U.S. Charges Three In Russian Spy Ringby noreply@rferl.org (RFE/RL)
United States federal prosecutors have announced charges against three men it said were part of a Russian spy ring in New York.
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