W. German Who Sent U.S. Gear to Soviets Convicted : Man Convicted of Selling U.S. Technology to Soviets

A West German businessman who illegally exported millions of dollars worth of American high technology to the Soviet Union was convicted in Los Angeles federal court today on 15 counts of mail fraud.

U.S. District Judge Alicemarie H. Stotler, hearing the case without a jury, found “overwhelming” evidence that Werner Bruchhausen, 47, was guilty of defrauding U.S. manufacturers and lying to the U.S. government about restricted electronic and military equipment that he bought and resold at huge profits. He is due to be sentenced March 30.

Asst. U.S. Atty. William F. Fahey charged during the trial that Bruchhausen, an electronic engineer who operated several Southern California companies from a mansion outside Munich, had done “tremendous harm” to U.S. security by selling more than $6 million worth of U.S. equipment to the Soviet Bloc.

Bruchhausen and two associates were indicted by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles in August, 1981, but he was not arrested until May, 1985, when British authorities took him into custody.

At the time of his extradition to the United States last June, U.S. Customs Commissioner William von Raab described Bruchhausen as “one of the most important members of a small fraternity of shady characters who handle most of the transfer of forbidden technology to the Soviet Bloc.”

Bruchhausen’s lawyer, Alan M. May, portrayed his client as an ambitious businessman who had been victimized by lying associates in the United States and set up by federal authorities.