{"id":28214,"date":"2016-12-02T15:33:53","date_gmt":"2016-12-02T23:33:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=28214"},"modified":"2016-12-02T15:33:53","modified_gmt":"2016-12-02T23:33:53","slug":"international-arms-trafficker-sentenced-to-10-years-for-conspiring-to-kill-americans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=28214","title":{"rendered":"International Arms Trafficker Sentenced to 10 Years for Conspiring to Kill Americans"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

A federal judge on Friday sentenced Virgil Flaviu Georgescu <\/strong>to 10 years in prison for conspiring to sell large quantities of military weapons to the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia or FARC, a terrorist organization, to be used to kill Americans in Colombia.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Georgescu, 43, was sentenced in Manhattan federal court.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cVirgil 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,\u201d said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.\u00a0 \u201cHaving sought to profit from the murder of U.S. officers abroad, Georgescu will now spend years in a U.S. prison.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the \u00a0indictment and evidence, this is what happened:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"U.S.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.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was with the understanding that the FARC would use the weapons against U.S. personnel in Colombia.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

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, who represented that they were acquiring these weapons for the FARC but were, in fact, working with the DEA).\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Georgescu and his co-conspirators agreed to provide these weapons to the confidential informants, with the specific understanding that the weapons would be used to kill Americans and, in particular, to shoot down American helicopters and airplanes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Georgescu first spoke with a CS in May 2014.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Georgescu then recruited both of his co-conspirators to help obtain the weapons for the confidential informants, with the understanding that the former Romanian government official would provide weapons expertise.<\/span><\/p>\n

The former Italian member of Parliament would help secure fraudulent end-user certificates, in order to make the illegal sale of weapons look legitimate.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"colombia\"Over the course of five consensually-recorded meetings with the confidential informants 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.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

During these meetings, the confidential informants explained that the arms would be used to kill Americans and Georgescu offered his thoughts on what weapons would best suit the FARC\u2019s needs.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

During this period, the co-conspirators met with weapons suppliers, obtained sample fraudulent end-user certificates and test-fired military-grade rifles.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

In December 2014, Georgescu and his co-conspirators secured a signed contract from a European weapons supplier to provide more than $17 million dollars\u2019 worth of weapons to a straw purchaser.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

After obtaining the signed contract, Georgescu and one of his co-conspirators secretly altered the document in order to increase the conspirators\u2019 personal profits from the weapons sale, according to the evidence \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On Dec. 15, 2014, Georgescu met with the confidential informants, showed them the contract and discussed means of payment and transportation of the weapons to Colombia.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Georgescu was arrested by Montenegrin authorities on the charges in the indictment on Dec. 15, 2014, and extradited to the U.S. on Feb. 25, 2015.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On May 25, 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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to the prison term, Georgescu was sentenced to three years of supervised release.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK A federal judge on Friday sentenced Virgil Flaviu Georgescu to 10 years in prison for conspiring to sell large quantities of military weapons to the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28216,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3],"tags":[3179],"class_list":["post-28214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-main-slider","category-u-s-department-of-justice","tag-fuerzas-armadas-revolucionarias-de-colombia"],"yoast_head":"\nArms Trafficker Sentenced to 10 Years for Conspiring to Kill U.S. Citizens<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A federal judge sentenced Virgil Flaviu Georgescu to 10 years in prison for conspiring to sell large quantities of military weapons to a terrorist group.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=28214\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Arms Trafficker Sentenced to 10 Years for Conspiring to Kill U.S. Citizens\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A federal judge sentenced Virgil Flaviu Georgescu to 10 years in prison for conspiring to sell large quantities of military weapons to a terrorist group.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=28214\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Justice Notebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-12-02T23:33:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/court-nyc-823x1024.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"823\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=28214#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=28214\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Raul\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\"},\"headline\":\"International Arms Trafficker Sentenced to 10 Years for Conspiring to Kill Americans\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-02T23:33:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=28214\"},\"wordCount\":640,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=28214#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/court-nyc.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Home Main Slider\",\"U.S. Department of Justice\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=28214#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=28214\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=28214\",\"name\":\"Arms Trafficker Sentenced to 10 Years for Conspiring to Kill U.S. Citizens\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=28214#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=28214#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/court-nyc.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-02T23:33:53+00:00\",\"description\":\"A federal judge sentenced Virgil Flaviu Georgescu to 10 years in prison for conspiring to sell large quantities of military weapons to a terrorist group.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=28214\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=28214#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/court-nyc.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/court-nyc.jpg\",\"width\":2812,\"height\":3500,\"caption\":\"A view of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York November 17, 2009. Five men, including the accused mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, will be brought to New York from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to face prosecution in federal court. The courthouse complex is just blocks away from where the 2001 attacks destroyed the World Trade Center's twin towers in lower Manhattan and killed nearly 3,000 people. REUTERS\\\/Chip East (UNITED STATES CONFLICT CRIME LAW) - RTXQUT2\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"description\":\""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"width\":675,\"height\":231,\"caption\":\"American Justice Notebook\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\",\"name\":\"Raul\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Raul\"},\"description\":\"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Arms Trafficker Sentenced to 10 Years for Conspiring to Kill U.S. Citizens","description":"A federal judge sentenced Virgil Flaviu Georgescu to 10 years in prison for conspiring to sell large quantities of military weapons to a terrorist group.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=28214","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Arms Trafficker Sentenced to 10 Years for Conspiring to Kill U.S. Citizens","og_description":"A federal judge sentenced Virgil Flaviu Georgescu to 10 years in prison for conspiring to sell large quantities of military weapons to a terrorist group.","og_url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=28214","og_site_name":"American Justice Notebook","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook","article_published_time":"2016-12-02T23:33:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":823,"height":1024,"url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/court-nyc-823x1024.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Raul","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Raul","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=28214#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=28214"},"author":{"name":"Raul","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0"},"headline":"International Arms Trafficker Sentenced to 10 Years for Conspiring to Kill Americans","datePublished":"2016-12-02T23:33:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=28214"},"wordCount":640,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=28214#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/court-nyc.jpg","keywords":["Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia"],"articleSection":["Home Main Slider","U.S. Department of Justice"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=28214#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=28214","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=28214","name":"Arms Trafficker Sentenced to 10 Years for Conspiring to Kill U.S. Citizens","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=28214#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=28214#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/court-nyc.jpg","datePublished":"2016-12-02T23:33:53+00:00","description":"A federal judge sentenced Virgil Flaviu Georgescu to 10 years in prison for conspiring to sell large quantities of military weapons to a terrorist group.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=28214"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=28214#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/court-nyc.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/court-nyc.jpg","width":2812,"height":3500,"caption":"A view of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York November 17, 2009. Five men, including the accused mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, will be brought to New York from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to face prosecution in federal court. The courthouse complex is just blocks away from where the 2001 attacks destroyed the World Trade Center's twin towers in lower Manhattan and killed nearly 3,000 people. REUTERS\/Chip East (UNITED STATES CONFLICT CRIME LAW) - RTXQUT2"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","name":"American Justice Notebook","description":""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization","name":"American Justice Notebook","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","width":675,"height":231,"caption":"American Justice Notebook"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0","name":"Raul","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","caption":"Raul"},"description":"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.","sameAs":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28214"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28221,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28214\/revisions\/28221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}