Bulgaria’s gambling regulators face organized crime charges

Bulgarian prosecutors have charged two members of its gambling regulatory agency with involvement in an organized crime group overseen by fugitive gambling czar Vasil Bozhkov.

On Tuesday, Bulgarian media reported that the nation’s Specialized Criminal Court had files charges of involvement in an organized crime group against former chairman of the State Commission on Gambling Alexander Georgiev (pictured) and Todor Markov, who headed up the Commission’s monitoring department.

(These media sources actually indicated that the Georgiev who was accused of organized crime was Plamen Georgiev, the former head of Bulgaria’s anti-corruption commission. While Plamen has dealt with his own corruption scandals, he doesn’t appear to be linked to the current gambling brouhaha.)

Prosecutors had sought to keep both Georgiev and Markov in police custody while the charges were pending but the Court instead ordered both men under house arrest. Both men were also ordered to refrain from contacting any Commission officials while their fate is being discussed.