George Trofimoff
George Trofimoff (March 9, 1927 – September 19, 2014) was a United States military intelligence officer of Russian descent.
George's mother, Ekaterina Kartali, had been a successful concert pianist before marrying Major Trofimoff in 1926.
He received an honorable discharge from active duty in 1956, and retired from the United States Army Reserve with the rank of colonel in 1987.
From 1959 through 1994, Trofimoff was employed by the United States Army as a civilian working in military intelligence, serving primarily in the Kingdom of Laos and in West Germany.
In 1969, he became the chief of the United States Army Element at the Nuremberg Joint Interrogation Center (JIC).
The JIC, a center for questioning defectors and refugees from the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries, was jointly run by American, French, and West German intelligence services.
His indictment states[8] that, following his promotion to head of the U.S. Army at the JIC, Trofimoff renewed his acquaintance with his foster brother Igor Susemihl.
After learning that Trofimoff was chronically short of funds, Bishop Iriney "recruited him into the service of the KGB."
The indictment states that the KGB possessed several similar collaborators among Moscow Patriarchate clergy, both inside and outside of the USSR.
[11]In 1999, Trofimoff boasted that he routinely smuggled every classified document he could obtain home to be photographed with a special camera and tripod.
According to former KGB General Oleg Kalugin, however, Trofimoff, who was given the codename "Markiz," always received his money from Iriney.
"[15] The German BKA, the FBI, and U.S. federal prosecutors allege that Trofimoff was paid $250,000 over the course of his espionage career.
Major Mitrokhin's information included evidence that a NATO interrogation center was being compromised by a mole, codenamed "Markiz".
Furthermore, the Soviet files he delivered described the spy as a "career American intelligence officer", and the courier who carried the secrets as a Russian Orthodox "clergyman".
On December 14, 1994, Trofimoff and Iriney were arrested and interrogated by the German Federal Police, or Bundeskriminalamt, based on the mentioned sketch.
Shortly thereafter, Trofimoff and Iriney were brought before Bernhard Bode, a judge of the Federal Court of Justice of Germany, for a preliminary hearing.
[20] After this short vindication, George and Jutta Trofimoff left Germany to retire in a gated community in Melbourne, Florida.
According to Colonel Andy Byers, who lived in the same gated community, Trofimoff also loved to entertain his new neighbors with gourmet meals and fine wine.
According to Byers, Trofimoff repeatedly said of Metropolitan Iriney, “My brother tells me he will leave money for me when he dies.
"[22] Beginning on July 10, 1997, FBI Agent Dimitry Droujinsky contacted Trofimoff, seeking a meeting.
Special Agent Droujinsky, a fellow Russian American, had spent his career impersonating a KGB operative in order to trick suspected moles into confessing their guilt.
In 1988, Droujinsky had successfully finessed a confession from U.S. Army warrant officer James Hall III, who had been spying for both the KGB and the East German Stasi.
[23] Giving his name as "Igor Galkin", an SVR agent assigned to the Russian Embassy, Droujinsky told Trofimoff that a defecting analyst had stolen or destroyed most of his file.
Although Trofimoff was originally deeply skeptical about the offer, Droujinsky finally succeeded in gaining his trust.
As video tapes rolled, Trofimoff made detailed descriptions of his services for the KGB and his desperate need for more money.
[24]In response, Droujinsky promised that the SVR would assist Trofimoff financially, but warned that it would take time.
"[26] On June 14, 2000, Trofimoff arrived at the Tampa International Airport Hilton Hotel to meet Droujinsky, who had promised to give him $20,000 in cash.
Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Donna Bucella "declined to estimate the damage wrought" by Trofimoff's suspected spying, stating that "several factors suggested a major security breach, including the sensitivity of the Nuremberg center, a NATO facility staffed by Germans, British, French and Americans; ... Trofimoff's clearance to view virtually any documents, and his longevity in the job."
[29] On June 26, 2001, a Federal jury in Tampa, Florida, convicted Trofimoff of spying for the Soviet Union.
He also recanted his admissions of espionage to Agent Droujinsky, saying he only made himself out to be a spy in order to obtain money from the Russian Orthodox Church.
