Hungarian Citizen Arrested in the US for Illegally Procuring Military-Grade Radios for Russia
The US Department of Justice has released information on the detention of Hungarian citizen Bence Horvath, who is accused of violating export controls on a shipment to Russia. He was arrested upon arrival at San Francisco International Airport on 23 August.
The detained Hungarian citizen is accused, among other things, of conspiring with others to illegally export US-made radio communications military technology.
Horvath is charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the Export Administration Reform Act of 2018.
‘The defendant allegedly attempted to purchase military-grade radios for Russian entities using a multinational procurement chain to evade law enforcement scrutiny,’ said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Department of Justice's National Security Division.
Horvat, along with others, ran a multinational procurement network that entered into direct contracts with various entities of the Russian government and worked on large-scale projects, such as the construction of operational radio communications systems in the Kursk region of Russia along the Russian-Ukrainian border.
Horvat is alleged to have organised the purchase of US radio communications technology himself and the smuggling of this technology to Russian state end users through a network of affiliates located in Spain, Serbia, Hungary, Latvia and other countries.
In January 2023, Horvath and other members of his network began negotiations with a small US radio distribution company to purchase and export military-grade radios and related accessories to Russia. The man had purchased 200 military-grade radios and intended to export them to Russia, but failed to do so. US Customs and Border Protection seized the shipment, preventing the radios from falling into the hands of Russian users.
The case is being investigated by the National Security Investigations Service, the Criminal Investigations Service of the Ministry of Defence and the Department of Commerce.