Jury doesn’t buy CIA story, convicts man for $17 million arms deal with terrorists

Virgil Flaviu Georgescu, 43, was convicted Wednesday in federal court of conspiracy to murder American government employees and conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists.

He could face up to life in prison when he is sentenced in September.

Georgescu was caught in 2014 brokering a deal that involved selling $17 million worth of military-grade weapons to the Communist guerrilla fighters of FARC, the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia.

He was extradited from the eastern European country of Montenegro to the United States.

This international tale of drugs, terrorists and a wannabe spy stems from a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration reverse sting operation. Federal agents had undercover informants pose as members of FARC seeking AK-47 rifles, M-4 carbines, sniper rifles and more.

The buyers claimed they wanted the weapons to kill American federal agents and shoot down the cocaine-crop-destroying helicopters flown by the DEA.

They approached Georgescu — for some reason that isn’t clear in court papers.

Then there’s the twist: Georgescu called the CIA tip line twice in early 2012 to warn the U.S. government, according to transcripts of the calls obtained by CNNMoney from the court file.

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