Espia Bulgarian helped the Marsalek Plan of Wirecard Kabul Airlift for the CIA, said the court

The leader of a Bulgarian spy ring helped Wirecard Fugitive Jan Marsalek organize a kabul 200 staff air transport during the military withdrawal of Afghanistan in 2021, he has learned a London court.

Lawyers representing Orlin Roussev, the Kingpin, based in the United Kingdom, were presented to The Old Bailey representing Orlin Roussev, the Kingpin of a UK -based group, accused of performing Russia’s espionage activities at an “industrial scale”.

Roussev, who located Bulgarian riders for flights, should receive credit for an operation to save North -American life, argued lawyers. He appeared in a judgment audience with Biser Dzhambazov, a associate and a third man, Ivan Stoyanov. All have declared guilty of spying on Russia.

The remaining members of the Spy Ring (Katrin Ivanova, Vanya Gaberova and Tiomir Ivanchev) were also present after being convicted in March after a three -month trial to the old bailey.

The six will be convicted on Monday.

At the time of the Afghan operation attempt Marsalek It was in Russia, after fleeing Germany after the collapse of the Wirecard Payment Group, where he was CEO of operations, at a fraud of 1.9 million euros the previous year.

Once in exile, it is believed that he carried out espionage activities for both the FSB and the GRU, the Domestic Intelligence agencies and the military intelligence of Russia, respectively, and commissioned Roussev and his team of Bulgarians in the name of Moscow.

Marsalek and Roussev cooperated in various projects that made victims of Russian projects, including journalists and dissidents, at the request of Moscow.

But Mark Summers KC, Roussev’s lawyer, cited Telegram messages suggesting that the couple had also worked on a humanitarian mission in August 2021 at the request of the CIA, through the United States Defense Contractor, Constellis, formerly known as Blackwater.

“Interesting request for our (type) friends of the CIA,” Marsalek wrote in Roussev on August 17. “They urgently need aircraft to fly contractors of Afghanistan. Apparently, all air companies in Russia and Turkey, etc., are already “exhausted” or refuse to fly because the insurance will not cover the loss of an aircraft. Do you know someone who is a little moody and operates large -scale aircraft? ”

Summers said that Roussev had successfully organized Bulgarian pilots in the airline more than 200 Kabul staff on August 26.

The NATO allies then made emergency evacuation of more than 120,000 soldiers and civilian staff in the Afghan capital, while the Taliban forces reaffirmed control of the country as a result of the United States military withdrawal.

However, prosecutor Alison Morgan KC said that the idea that Roussev acted in a humanitarian manner at the direct request of the United States government was “completely incorrect”. Rather, he argued, the arrangement was made with Constellis, without any instruction from the wider western allies.

“What Mr. Roussev did was see if they could take advantage of the terrible situation that came out of Kabul … to see if they could make money with this,” he said. There is no corroborating evidence that the air passage has ever taken place.

Telegram messages do not explain the connection between Marsalek and Constellis. The company did not respond to a comment request. He has approached the CIA for comments.

Marsalek and Roussev also used their contacts for business companies and discussed a diamond and weapons trade through Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to messages published in court.

In a conversation in June 2021, Roussev told Marsalek to “deal with Diamond Guys in Africa.”

“My narrow contact that has been supplied them for 4 years.

Marsalek also aspired to work with contacts in China to design a rival in the Starlink Satellite of the billionaire Elon Musk, and said he wanted to make a association between the Russian State Weapons Company Rostec and Lame, the Chinese drone, to help Moscow troops in Ukraine.

Police in the United Kingdom found the cache of telegram messages between Roussev and Marsalek on devices when they attacked the Bulgarian house in Great Yarmouth, in the east of England, in February 2023.

His interactions gave birth to Marsalek’s life in exile. In a May 2021 message, he said he was taking Russian lessons.

“I try to improve my skills on a few fronts, languages ​​are one of them. In my new role as an international fugitive, I have to overcome James Bond,” he wrote.

In another message in February 2022, he told Roussev that he would go to bed soon after the new plastic surgery to alter his appearance. “I had another aesthetic surgery, trying to look differently and I am tired and my head hurts,” Marsalek complained.