Bulgarian court approves extradition of russian financier to US

A federal grand jury in Florida handed down an indictment against 52-year-old Sergey Ivin in February, 2025 and he was arrested at Sofia airport last October.

The US indictment accuses Ivin of having worked on the plan using a network of businesses controlled by pro-russian Ukrainian oligarch Sergei Kurchenko.

They say that the operations included sales of metallurgical products involving sums of up to $350 million.

False documents hid the link to Kurchenko and the fact that the products came from the eastern, Ukrainian region of Donbas, which is occupied by russian forces.

The alleged offences took place between 2017 and 2021, according to the US indictment, violating sanctions imposed after russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

Ivin denied all the accusations against him in court and said he had never been involved in money laundering.

If he was extradited to the United States there was no guarantee his rights would be respected, he told the Bulgarian court.

"International law does not exist for them," he argued. A russian consular official attended the court hearing.

Bulgaria is also considering the extradition of another russian, 54-year-old Oleg Olshansky, who is wanted in connection with the same case.

He is appealing a lower court ruling that approved his extradition to the United States.

Source: Barron's