Nikos Bogonikolos in Zaryadye Park, Moscow, in an image posted to his public Twitter profile, Dec. 30, 2017. Bogonikolos was recently arrested and has been accused acquiring U.S. technology and smuggling it to Russia. (Twitter)
A NATO contractor has been arrested under suspicion he helped Russia obtain advanced military technologies related to quantum computing and nuclear testing, the Justice Department said this week.
Nikolaos “Nikos” Bogonikolos, 59, faces charges tied to wire fraud and smuggling, documents unsealed Tuesday in federal court said.
Bogonikolos, of Athens, Greece, was arrested in Paris last week and faces extradition to the U.S., a Justice Department statement said Tuesday.
The case against Bogonikolos portrays him as a man with access to sophisticated military technology, which he smuggled to blacklisted companies tied to Russia’s intelligence services.
“As alleged, while ostensibly operating as a defense contractor for NATO and other ally countries, the defendant and his Aratos Group were double dealing, helping to fuel Russia’s war effort and their development of next generation weapons,” U.S. attorney Breon Peace said in a statement Tuesday.
Bogonikolos helmed the Aratos Group, a defense and technology conglomerate with ties to NATO in his home country and the Netherlands, the criminal complaint said.
An Aratos Group subsidiary was a NATO Innovation Challenge finalist in 2021 for a proposal involving the use of artificial intelligence and blockchain technology for satellites and spacecraft, the Justice Department said.
Bogonikolos began working with a network of companies tied to Russian intelligence in 2017, the complaint stated.
Nikos Bogonikolos, center, stands with officials of the European Business Awards in January 2015. The U.S. Justice Department is accusing Bogonikolos, a defense contractor and the president of the Aratos Group, of selling sensitive Western technology to Russia. (Aratos Group/Twitter)
An FBI investigator said in the complaint that Russian intelligence officials discussed in emails how Bogonikolos was ready to work with them and further talked about arranging an in-person meeting in Moscow.
Bogonikolos and the Aratos Group acquired sensitive military equipment and then concealed a reshipping scheme to Russia, the complaint said.
Some of the shipped items included lasers and transistors that can be used in quantum cryptography research and nuclear weapons testing, according to court documents.
In a transaction for military antennas, Bogonikolos and Aratos employees told the Florida company providing the items that they would be used only for “recreational and tourism maritime vessels” in the Netherlands, court documents said.
But an invoice dated Aug. 11, 2018, said that the antennas were transferred to a company affiliated with a front company for the Serniya Network, the criminal complaint said.
The Serniya Network is a grouping of Moscow-based companies that were blacklisted by the Treasury Department in 2022 after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The U.S. Treasury said in a statement then that the companies were “instrumental to the Russian Federation’s war machine.”
The criminal complaint cites an email on Oct. 3, 2022, between an Aratos employee and Bogonikolos detailing purchases made by the company for the Serniya Network, including some entries after the network was sanctioned.
Four days later, Bogonikolos accessed Google and used the following search terms: “Netherlands illegal export to Russia police,” “Netherlands illegal export to Russia” and “Dutch police arrest for exports to Russia,” the criminal complaint said.
In other emails, Bogonikolos said he would falsify an export license and an Aratos employee stated that an item being acquired was “for the Russians,” prosecutors said.
Bogonikolos remains in custody in France pending extradition hearings, the Justice Department statement said.
