Russian banker accused of being part of Spy out post, others convicted of spying in New York - Just like in the movies

Illustr: AP 
 Spy games: Buryakov, center, was accused of posing as a Russian banker to gather economic intelligence and recruit sources in New York City
' In one recorded conversation, Podobnyy complained to Sporyshev that their work was nothing like "movies about James Bond" 

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 Photo: Google Street
Russian outpost: Buryakov, a 41-year-old married father-of-two, worked at Russian state-owned Vnesheconombank in Manhattan
They also said he purposely failed to register as a foreign agent to conceal his true role as a covert operative embedded at a Manhattan branch of Vnesheconombank, or VEB.
A Russian banker accused of being part of spy ring operating in New York City pleaded guilty Friday to a conspiracy charge and agreed to spend up to two-and-a-half years in prison.

Evgeny Buryakov, 41, pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to act as an agent of a foreign government without registering with the US government. The plea comes less than a month before he was set to face trial. 

When Buryakov was arrested last year, prosecutors said he had teamed up with two Russian diplomats from 2012 through January 2015 to gather sensitive economic intelligence on potential US sanctions against Russian banks and on US efforts to develop alternative energy resources.

There was no mention of spies during the plea proceeding, but US Attorney Preet Bharara embraced the secretive nature of the alleged scheme in a statement.

‘An unregistered intelligence agent, under cover of being a legitimate banker, gathers intelligence on the streets of New York City, trading coded messages with Russian spies who send the clandestinely collected information back to Moscow. This sounds like a plotline for a Cold War-era movie, but in reality, Evgeny Buryakov pled guilty today to a federal crime for his role in just such a scheme,’ Bharara said.

Assistant Attorney General John Carlin added in the same release that foreign nations which ‘attempt to illegally gather economic and other intelligence information through espionage pose a direct threat to US national security.’

Illustr: Reuters
Tradecraft: The FBI used recorders hidden in binders to penetrate a Cold War-style spy ring operating in New York City, which included Buryakov (sketched in court in January 2015)

Earlier US government claims that Buryakov worked for the SVR, the foreign intelligence agency headquartered in Moscow, were not included in the charge Friday.

In papers filed in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, it emerged that the FBI eavesdropped on meetings between Buryakov and his alleged co-conspirators, Igor Sporyshev and Victor Podobnyy.

The FBI's snooping enabled the agency to penetrate the workplaces of the SVR and hear about Buryakov's work for it, prosecutors said.

They also captured one Russian agent, also charged in the case, complaining about the lack of excitement in his job, saying he expected it 'would be just slightly more down to earth than in the movies about James Bond.'

Buryakov has been behind bars and will remain so until sentencing, which was scheduled for May 25. Prosecutors and the defendant agreed as part of the deal that a 30-month sentence is appropriate.

Buryakov told US District Judge Richard Berman on Friday that he had agreed to let an official with Russia's Trade Mission in New York to direct him to take certain actions without having registered with the US attorney general's office as a Russian agent.

He said he spoke on the telephone in May 2013 with the official about information the official had requested.

Outside court afterward, defense attorney Scott Hershman declined to comment.

The defense previously had argued that laws exempted Buryakov from registering because he already was a visa-carrying official with a financial institution that is an arm of the Russian government.

Photo: FX
The twists in the Buryakov case are reminiscent of plotlines from the popular FX show The Americans about a married couple who are Soviet spies operating in the US in the 1980s

The government said Buryakov had obtained a work visa by lying on paperwork and saying he wouldn't commit espionage.  

The FBI began investigating Buryakov, Sporyshev and Podobnyy in 2010 after ten Russian spies living in the US, all members of a sleeper cell referred to as 'The Illegals' by the SVR, were arrested, including red-haired femme fatale Anna Chapman.

THE CHARGES AGAINST 'THE SPY 3'

According to the charges in federal court in Manhattan: 
    Buryakov worked for the SVR - the Russian foreign intelligence service under 'non-official cover', posing as a banker
    He was handled by Sporyshev, a trade representative for Russia in New York, and Podobnyy, an attaché to Russia's delegation to the UN
    The handlers tried to recruit New York residents as intelligence sources, tasked Buyakov to gather intelligence before transmitting it back to Moscow
    The SVR asked the three to gather intelligence on US sanctions against Russian banks and the US developing alternative energy resources
    The three would communicate in brief phone calls with Buryakov saying he had a 'ticket', 'book', 'list' or 'umbrella' to hand over intelligence and arrange outdoor meetings to dodge surveillance
    Sporyshev asked Buryakov to gather material so a Russian news agency could ask questions about American sanctions against the country 

When Buryakov was arrested and appeared before a federal judge prosecutors said: 'His life here is a deception.' 

'Russian spies continue to seek to operate in our midst,' US Attorney Bharara warned after the arrests. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich countered by accusing US authorities of manufacturing a spy scandal as part of its 'anti-Russian campaign.'

Neither Sporyshev and Podobnyy were not arrested, as they enjoyed diplomatic immunity in their respective roles as a Russian trade representative and an attache to the country's mission to the United Nations. 

According to prosecutors, in April 2012, Sporyshev met an undercover FBI employee posing as an analyst at a New York energy firm at an oil and gas industry conference.

Over the next two years, they met to discuss the industry and other economic and political issues, prosecutors said, with Sporyshev providing gifts and cash for information.

In 2013, the FBI employee began providing Sporyshev with the binders containing purported industry analysis he wrote, supporting documents, and 'covertly placed recording devices,' prosecutors wrote.

As the undercover employee said his company would fire him if it learned he disclosed confidential information, Sporyshev would promptly return the binders after reviewing them, prosecutors said.

The recordings that resulted captured statements of Sporyshev, Podobnyy, and other Russian intelligence personnel from January to May 2013, prosecutors said.

In one secretly recorded conversation, Podobnyy complained to Sporyshev that their work was nothing like 'movies about James Bond,' according to the papers.

Photo: AFP/getty Images
Eavesdropping: An FBI agent posing as an analyst at an energy firm would slip rigged binders containing purported industry analysis he wrote to a suspect Russian agent, who was required to return the binders so as not to get his source in trouble with his employer 

Photo: WireImage
In 2010, the feds arrested ten Russian spies living in the US, including red-haired femme fatale Anna Chapman (pictured at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013) 

'Of course, I wouldn't fly helicopters, but pretend to be someone else at a minimum,' he said.

Sporyshev griped that he too thought he 'at least would go abroad with a different passport.' 

According to a criminal complaint, the three accused spies spoke to each other in code over the phone to set up their meetings and claimed they had an umbrella or a ticket for the others.

In person Buryakov would pass Sporyshev a bag, a magazine or a piece of paper with information hidden inside it. 

Before his arrest, Buryakov lived in the Bronx with his Russian wife and two children. 


 Courtesy nypost