site.btaUS Court Sentences Bulgarian National for Scheme to Illegally Export U.S.-Origin Sensitive Microelectronics to Russia

A federal court in Austin, U.S., sentenced Bulgarian national Milan Dimitrov to time served after he spent 38 months in custody for conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the United States Attorney's Office reported in a press release on Wednesday. He was senteced for scheme to illegally export U.S.-origin sensitive microelectronics to Russia.

According to court documents, in August 2014, Milan Dimitrov, 51, began working at Multi Technology Integration Group EOOD (MTIG), a Bulgarian company created to enable two Russian companies to acquire U.S.-origin radiation-hardened and high-temperature electronic circuits from a company based in Austin. Earlier in 2014, following Russia’s invasion of Crimea, the U.S. imposed export controls that made it illegal to export those goods directly to Russia without a license from the Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security, the press release reads.

In January 2015, the Bulgarian MTIG received a 16mB Static Random-Access Memory (SRAM) Wafer from a U.S. supplier in Austin. Approximately one month later, MTIG entered into a written contract to deliver the parts to a Russian engineering company called OOO Sovtest Comp. Over the next three months, Sovtest transferred more than USD 1 million split into three separate payments to MTIG and, after receiving the third payment, MTIG issued Sovtest a USD 158,125 invoice for the sale of the Austin-based supplier’s parts to the Russian company. MTIG thereafter shipped the parts to Sovtest in Russia, in violation of the Export Administration Regulations and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Dimitrov was charged in a four-count indictment in July 2020. He was arrested in 2022 and extradited to the U.S. in 2024. Dimitrov pleaded guilty on Nov. 20, 2025, admitting that he had knowledge that the parts were shipped from the U.S. to Bulgaria and then to Russia, and that he facilitated and benefitted from the illegal activity as an employee of MTIG and close associate of Sovtest’s owner, co-conspirator Ilias Sabirov. At this time, Sabirov remains a fugitive, as does the defendant’s father Dimitar Dimitrov, co-founder of MTIG.

U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman presided over the case, sentencing Dimitrov to time served after the Bulgarian spent 38 months in custody.