International Arms Trafficker Sentenced To 10 Years In Prison For Conspiring To Kill Americans And Provide Material Support To A Foreign Terrorist Organization

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that VIRGIL FLAVIU GEORGESCU was sentenced to 10 years in prison for conspiring to sell large quantities of military-grade weaponry to the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (the “FARC”) – a designated foreign terrorist organization – to be used to kill Americans in Colombia.  GEORGESCU was sentenced today in Manhattan federal court by U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said:  “Virgil Flaviu Georgescu was convicted by a unanimous jury of conspiring to sell the FARC military weapons, including anti-aircraft cannons and rocket-propelled grenades, to be used against American personnel and aircraft.  Having sought to profit from the murder of U.S. officers abroad, Georgescu will now spend years in a U.S. prison.”

According to the allegations in the Indictment, other documents publicly filed in Manhattan federal court, and the evidence introduced at trial:

Between May 2014 and December 2014, GEORGESCU, a Romania-based weapons broker, conspired with his co-defendants, a former Romanian government official and a former member of the Italian Parliament, to sell an arsenal of weapons, including machine guns and anti-aircraft cannons, to the FARC, with the understanding that the FARC would use the weapons against United States personnel in Colombia.  During a series of recorded telephone calls and in-person meetings, GEORGESCU and his co-conspirators agreed to sell the weapons to three confidential sources (the “CSs”), who represented that they were acquiring these weapons for the FARC but were, in fact, working with the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”).  GEORGESCU and his co-conspirators agreed to provide these weapons to the CSs with the specific understanding that the weapons would be used to kill Americans and, in particular, to shoot down American helicopters and airplanes.

GEORGESCU first spoke with a CS in May 2014.  Thereafter, GEORGESCU recruited both of his co-conspirators to help obtain the weapons for the CSs, with the understanding that the former Romanian government official would provide weapons expertise and the former Italian member of Parliament would help secure fraudulent end-user certificates, in order to make the illegal sale of weapons look legitimate.  GEORGESCU instructed his co-conspirators and others involved in the deal to use encrypted applications when communicating about the weapons deal to avoid detection by U.S. authorities.

Over the course of five consensually recorded meetings with the CSs in Romania and Montenegro, GEORGESCU and his co-conspirators provided the CSs with catalogues of weapons that included anti-aircraft cannons, rocket-propelled and thermobaric grenades, and other high-powered weapons, as well as military-grade optical equipment.  During these meetings, the CSs explained that the arms would be used to kill Americans and GEORGESCU offered his thoughts on what weapons would best suit the FARC’s needs.

Between September 2014 and December 2014, GEORGESCU and his co-conspirators traveled to Romania, Montenegro, Italy, Germany, Albania, Poland, and Bulgaria to advance the weapons deal.  During this period, the co-conspirators met with weapons suppliers, obtained sample fraudulent end-user certificates, and test-fired military-grade rifles.  In December 2014, GEORGESCU and his co-conspirators secured a signed contract from a European weapons supplier to provide more than $17 million dollars’ worth of weapons to a straw purchaser.  After obtaining the signed contract, GEORGESCU and one of his co-conspirators secretly altered the document in order to increase the conspirators’ personal profits from the weapons sale.  On December 15, 2014, GEORGESCU met with the CSs, showed them the contract, and discussed means of payment and transportation of the weapons to Colombia.

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GEORGESCU, 43, was arrested by Montenegrin authorities on the charges in the Indictment on December 15, 2014, and extradited to the United States on February 25, 2015.  On May 25, 2016, following a 10-day jury trial in Manhattan federal court before Judge Abrams, GEORGESCU was convicted of one count of conspiracy to kill United States officers or employees and one count of conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization.  In addition to the prison term, GEORGESCU was sentenced to three years of supervised release.

Mr. Bharara praised the outstanding investigative efforts of the DEA’s Special Operations Division’s Bilateral Investigations Unit, the DEA’s Bucharest Country Office, the DEA’s Rome Country Office, the Montenegrin National Police, and the Romanian Authorities.  Mr. Bharara also thanked the Counterterrorism Section of the Department of Justice’s National Security Division and the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs.

This prosecution is being handled by the Office’s Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrea Surratt and Ilan Graff are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Trial Attorneys Josh Parecki and Benita Corlett of the Counterterrorism Section.