Court Releases One Arrested for US Card Fraud, Other Stays Locked Up

One of the two Bulgarians arrested in Bulgaria for card fraud in the US, remains in custody, the other is released under home arrest, ruled the Sofia City Court. 

Mihail Petrov was released because he suffers from cerebral palsy and has clean police record, while Radoslav Pavlov is in good health and, though he also has clean record, will remain in custody for at least 60 days. 

Both are accused of recruiting people who transported card skimming devices to various parts of the world. 

Prosecutor Elka Vaklinova said she will appeal the court ruling on Petrov. “Despite his medical condition, the crimes were carried out electronically and he could face 20 years in prison,” she said. “I find his release under home arrest unjustified.”

In a joint operation between Bulgarian and US law enforcement agencies were arrested a total of 16 Bulgarians, 14 of them – in the US. They are accused of money laundering and credit card fraud worth millions of dollars. 

The FBI has reportedly been following the group in the past 3-4 years in collaboration with the Bulgarian Prosecution and the Bulgarian State Agency for National Security (DANS). They have intercepted a number of phone calls between its members.

According to US Federal law, each person found guilty could face 10-20 years in jail for each transaction made.