LOS ANGELES -- A businessman and two foreigners were indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday for conspiring to ship high technology computers and other equipment to the Soviet Union.
Federal prosecutors said the operation involved several kinds of state-of-the-art computer components, which reportedly were far more advanced than Soviet technology. None of the equipment was believed to have a direct military use.
Named in the 23-count indictment were Charles J. McVey II; Rolf Leinhard, of Zurich, Switzerland, described as the intermediary in the operation; and Yuri Boyarinov, a Russian who allegedly handled the shipments in the Soviet Union.
None of the suspects has been arrested and prosecutors said McVey was believed in Europe.
Assistant U.S. Attorney William Fahy said the indictments came out of an intensive investigation that was part of 'Operation Exodus,' a government effort to stem the flow of sensitive equipment to unfriendly foreign nations.
The indictment said McVey, through several corporations he runs, made large-scale purchases of the most up-to-date computers and other high technology gear.
The components were repackaged and shipped to Leinhard, a Zurich freight forwarder, the indictment said. Leinhard then shipped the equipment to the Soviet Union, where Boyarinov handled them in his position as senior consultant to an agency called V-0 Electronorgtechnia.
Authorities also confiscated equipment at McVey's company in suburban Anaheim, including a sophisticated scanner used to find mineral deposits.
The indictment said the equipment was installed at several Soviet institutes and McVey sent people to Russia to maintain the equipment and train technicians to use it.
Fahy said the scheme was unearthed when a shipment destined for the Space Institute in Moscow was seized in Houston by customs agents last March.
Besides conspiracy, the three men were charged with violating the federal law that prohibits shipment of certain types of sensitive equipment to some foreign countries. Other charges include failure to obtain proper export licenses.
