Military Radio Exports Foiled

The Justice Department unsealed a criminal complaint charging a Hungarian national with violations of U.S. export controls targeting Russia, including by conspiring with others to illegally export U.S.-origin radio communications technology to Russian government end users without a license. 

Bence Horvath is charged by complaint with one count of conspiring to violate the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (ECRA). He was arrested on arrival at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, California, on Aug. 23.

According to the court documents, Horvath and others managed a multinational procurement network that contracted directly with various entities in the Russian government and worked on large scale projects such as the construction of operational radio communications systems in Russia’s Kursk region along the Russian/Ukrainian border.

The complaint alleges that Horvath himself arranged to purchase U.S.-origin radio communications technology and smuggle such technology to Russian government end-users through a network of affiliates located in Spain, Serbia, Hungary, Latvia, and elsewhere.

Beginning at least around January 2023, Horvath and others in his network initiated discussions with a small U.S. radio distribution company about procuring and exporting to Russia U.S.-manufactured military-grade radios and related accessories. Over the next several months, Horvath continued his efforts to secure those items, which he intended to transship to Russia via a freight forwarder in Latvia.

As part of the conspiracy, Horvath purchased 200 of the military-grade radios and intended to export them to Russia, but he was not successful. U.S. Customs and Border Protection detained the shipment, preventing the radios from falling into the hands of prohibited Russian end users.