Peevski also engaged in corruption through his front man Ilko Dimitrov Zhelyazkov (Zhelyazkov), the former Deputy Chief of the Bulgarian State Agency for Technical Operations and former Bulgarian State Agency for National Security (DANS) officer who was appointed to the National Bureau for Control on Special Intelligence-Gathering Devices. Peevski used Zhelyazkov to conduct a bribery scheme involving Bulgarian residency documents for foreign persons, as well as to bribe government officials through various means in exchange for their information and loyalty. For example, as of 2019, Zhelyazkov was known for offering bribes to senior Bulgarian government officials who were expected to provide information to Zhelyazkov for onward passage to Peevski. In return, Zhelyazkov would see that individuals who accepted his offer were placed in positions of authority and also provided a monthly bribe. Peevski and Zhelyazkov also had an official placed in a leadership position to embezzle funds to them in 2019. In another example, as of early 2018, these two government officials ran a scheme to sell Bulgarian residency documents where company representatives purportedly paid bribes to Bulgarian officials to ensure their clients received citizenship documents immediately rather than making the $500,000 deposit or waiting the five years for a legitimate request to be processed. Lastly, Zhelyazkov also blackmailed a potential Bulgarian government minister with criminal charges from Bulgaria’s Prosecutor General’s office if the minister did not provide him further assistance upon appointment.
Peevski and Zhelyazkov are designated pursuant to E.O. 13818 for being foreign persons who are current or former government officials, or persons acting for or on behalf of such an official, who are responsible for or complicit in, or who have directly or indirectly engaged in, corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery.
On December 23, 2016, the President signed the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (Pub. L. 114-328, Title XII, Subtitle F) (the “Act”) into law. The Act authorized the President to impose targeted sanctions on any foreign person the President determines is, among other things, responsible for extrajudicial killings, torture, or other gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, or a government official, or a senior associate of such an official, responsible for, or complicit in, ordering, controlling, or otherwise directing, acts of significant corruption.
On December 20, 2017, the President, invoking the authority of, inter alia, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701-1706) (IEEPA), issued Executive Order 13818 (82 FR 60839, December 26, 2017) (E.O. 13818), effective at 12:01 a.m. eastern standard time on December 21, 2017.
In E.O. 13818, the President determined that serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States and declared a national emergency to deal with that threat.
OFAC is issuing the Global Magnitsky Sanctions Regulations, 31 CFR part 583 (the “Regulations”), to implement the Act and E.O. 13818, pursuant to authorities delegated to the Secretary of the Treasury in E.O. 13818. A copy of E.O. 13818 appears in appendix A to this part.
