DETROIT _ Paul Whelan, the Michigan businessman accused of spying in Russia, entered the country on a business travel visa supported by BorgWarner Inc., he told his lawyers in Moscow.
Whelan, 49, of Novi was the director of global security for the Auburn Hills-based auto supplier when he traveled to Russia on Dec. 22 for the wedding of a friend. He was arrested six days later by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) and charged with espionage.
He remains in a prison cell at Moscow's czarist-era Lefortovo Detention Facility, held without much more information about the accusations against him than he knew on the day when he was initially detained.
"He was caught red-handed," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a news conference following Whelan's arrest in his hotel room at the upscale Metropol hotel in Moscow. In his possession was a flash drive containing what Russian authorities say was sensitive information.
It's a claim his family denies.
"Paul thought a friend of 10 years was giving him some photos of his hometown," on the flash drive, said his twin brother, David Whelan, in an email message. Whelan holds U.S., British, Canadian and Irish passports. If he's convicted of spying, he could be imprisoned for up to 20 years.
Since his arrest, Russian authorities are limiting Whelan's contact with the outside world, but he has been able to communicate some details about the case to his family through his lawyers. Among those details: BorgWarner helped him get into Russia by sponsoring his visa, and he believes his arrest might be tied to politics involving U.S. sanctions.
BorgWarner has 30,000 employees around the world with 68 locations in 19 countries, but it doesn't have facilities in Russia, said company spokeswoman Kathy Graham.
The company would not confirm that it sponsored Whelan's Russian business visa.
"As a general policy BorgWarner does not comment on travel of any of its employees, nor does the company discuss information about individual customers," said Graham in an email to the Free Press. "Paul was not in Russia on company business. We are deferring to the State Department regarding updates to his situation."
Although BorgWarner operates no facilities in Russia, the company does have a history of doing business there.
BorgWarner supplied Kamaz Inc., Russia's largest truck-maker, with turbochargers, fan drives and high-performance fans, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission documents. BorgWarner parts are used in nonmilitary Kamaz trucks and Nefaz buses, and its total sales to Kamaz from 2013-15 through non-U.S. subsidiaries was $12.1 million.
"For over 15 years, BorgWarner has supported (Kamaz) with advanced air-flow technologies, and we are looking forward to continuing the successful collaboration," Daniel Paterra, who was then BorgWarner's president and general manager of thermal systems, said in a 2015 news release about the Dakar Rally, an off-road rally in South America in which Kamaz trucks are used.
About a year after Paterra made that statement, the SEC submitted a letter to the president and CEO of BorgWarner, asking for details about the company's dealings with Kamaz, which was reported to have delivered trucks to Syria and Sudan.
"Sudan and Syria are designated by the State Department as state sponsors of terrorism and are subject to U.S. economic sanctions and export controls," wrote Cecilia Blye, chief of the SEC's Office of Global Security risk in a letter to the company dated April 14, 2016.
"We are aware of publicly available information indicating that your subsidiaries have provided turbocompressors, fan drives and high performance fans to (Kamaz) Inc. and news reports indicating that Russia has delivered (Kamaz) military trucks to the Syrian Army."
The company responded in a letter later that month, writing: "There were no direct or known indirect sales or exports from BorgWarner Inc. ... or its subsidiaries ... to Sudan or Syria in 2013, 2014 or 2015.
"Non-U.S. subsidiaries of BorgWarner have had and in the future may continue to have de minimis light vehicle/non-military automotive business with customers in Sudan and Syria. U.S. law does not prohibit non-U.S. subsidiaries of U.S. companies from engaging in transactions with Sudanian or Syrian customers that do not involve exports or re-exports subject to U.S. jurisdiction."
BorgWarner declined to provide the Detroit Free Press with a specific explanation of what it meant by "de minimis" in its response to the SEC, although generally the term is used in legal references to suggest something so small or minor, it is insignificant.
